


Sacred Temple, More Like Shame Temple

by HattieChats



Category: LEGO Monkie Kid
Genre: Back at it again with trash reader fics!, F/M, M/M, Please don't look at my other stuff!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:54:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 27,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27325366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HattieChats/pseuds/HattieChats
Summary: There's a shame temple? Let's make a plot around it!
Relationships: Monkey King/Reader
Comments: 104
Kudos: 190





	1. Start Somewhere

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are no Monkey King/Reader fics so I guess I must be the change I need to see in the world.

A mountain littered with temples and shrouded with the morning light. That’s what you saw through your camera app just before you snapped the picture.

A small smile could be seen in your reflection if you looked hard enough but you were more focused on the details of the snapshot. Fingers dancing over the screen to zoom in and find out what was too small to see by the average eye.

The trees and stone that were at the edges of the trails, the steps of stairs that never seem to end, and the occasional monkey. There were a lot of those here, from the temple statues to actual animal.

It was honestly a hassle and a half getting far enough to get as much as you could in that one photo. But totally worth it when you saw the results!

Still, you took more pictures to cover all the time you spent both on the way and just to make sure you didn’t accidentally _not_ take the picture you had spent hours to get.

You did notice there was a trail leading out of what you could guess to call a town. (Maybe even a village?) It made you think of the Great Wall for a brief moment when you considered going to see what would be at the end.

Two wooden monkeys sat on their stone pillars, one on each side of the trail. They appeared serene, almost life-like bliss despite being carved into that form.

You took a few pictures of each monkey before taking another look at the stone steps that seem to go on forever.

The chill of the morning breeze kept you alert, occasionally hearing leaves rustling and soft chattering. Sunlight pushes your shadow onto the stone path, folding with the steps ahead.

You took in the cold air around you then let out a breath that almost looked like steam.

The day was still starting, and you were curious to see what else it could offer.

At times it felt like your legs would give out from how long this self-imposed journey felt. The shadow from trees kept you cool and the more than occasional song from your phone kept you motivated. (Sure that would drain your battery but that's why you brought a portable charger.)

Once you reach the gate that was at the end of the path, you took a seat and rested your back against the bold red wood.

Or what was left of it. It looked like something bulldozed through the giant doors and snapped them like twigs.

The construction job going on with it seemed shoddy with how it had planks of wood were trying to cover the huge gaps. Trying was the key word here.

You took a peek between the not so small cracks and saw a temple with the same bold red wood hold it up, golden tiles were on the roof and reflected the sun above. Cool green fences and barriers were either covered by foliage or the same golden tile as the roof.

Something that caught your attention after that was a similar set of meditating monkey statues but was completely made of stone instead and the pillars that they say on were plated with gold.

You got up and made your way through the opening, your foot almost getting caught but quickly picked up to avoid causing any damage.

You tapped the camera app icon on your phone then took some quick pictures of just the front view before going into the rest.

A monkey seemed to wake from a sun bath on the roof and stare at you for a solid minute.

You could only stare back with a tilt to the head, which the monkey copied, then give a quick wave goodbye before going on your way to explore more.

Modern was absolutely not a word you would have picked for the inside of the temple, you were certain that your eyes were playing tricks on you! Your face pressed against glass as you took in the fact there was a TV, couch, table, and all the other commodities for a living room.

Were those monkeys STREAMING _MONKEY KING: THE ANIMATED SERIES?!_

Apparently your expression was something if it managed to catch one of the monkeys’ attention and get it to pity you enough to open the front door.

Disbelief still covered your face as the small monkey grabbed you by the hand and try to lead you inside.

You let it guide you inside the temple and just stare at how homey this temple was. There would be times where you stopped in your tracks when you saw something like, oh say, gold plated armor just collecting dust.

The monkey would tap the back of your hand to recapture your attention then pull again, eventually leading you to the room with the TV and monkeys.

There was a pause from the monkeys, wondering who you were before going back to watching their show and eating out of a bowl of chips.

“Can I look around?” You found yourself asking the monkey that once grabbed your hand but they were now engrossed in a pretty intense action sequence.

“Okay,” you mumbled to yourself as you took a tour of what else was in this place.

The wood floor made occasional creaks, the walls had the smallest pieces of chipped paint at the corners and edges, ornate items either hung on those walls or discarded onto the ground. Few of the doors were open, you saw either basic comforts in the rooms they hid or were miniature museums with all the treasures they held inside.

Then there was a kitchen that was a pile of empty dishes or half eaten junk. A strong scent of peaches soaked the air, it was almost overwhelming.

The sight and the scent together made you grimace.

Okay, you knew this wasn’t your place but you weren’t going to take this mess for another moment longer. Your sleeves were rolled up and ready before you even realized it.

A monkey (maybe the same one that let you in?) seemed to get curious on where you went off. They sat by the table, staring at the cleared surfaces then at you.

They hopped onto the counter then jumped to your back, climbing to your shoulder and taking a seat. The tiny hand patted your cheek, pointing to you and basically waving to the rest of the room.

“Ummm,” you weren’t certain how to respond. “I kind of cleaned it,” was the only thing you could think of.

The monkey made an “ooh” sound, soon after jumped off your shoulder and started making their way back to the group. (Was that called a tribe or a troop?)

Wait, how long were you in the zone?

You searched your pockets and felt your heart drop.

Phone gone.

Before a coherent thought formed, you were already rushing to the monkey that just left the room.

“Give it back!”

Yeah, that monkey wasn't going to as it jumped onto a bookcase and just out of your reach. Your shoes slid across the floor, making a harsh squeak when you wanted to stop.

It leapt from wall to wall, making chattering sounds not unlike laughter.

Only when you managed to trap it in a corner, you gave it a quick yank on the tail midair once it made the choice to jump over you. That was enough to make it let go of your phone.

You let out a sigh of relief as you processed that the phone was back in your hand and not cracked by the ground below.

The last thing you saw on the screen was a mobile game before the screen went pitch black due to a dying battery.

_Are you kidding me?_

You made a face that was the perfect mix of annoyed and defeated. The monkey took this as a truce of sorts, neither of you had won this.

You could only pinch the bridge of your nose as if the pressure was the only thing stopping you from splitting into a pure ball of anger. You were just going to... look outside the window. That is easy enough and you could work from there as your phone can recharge via battery pack.

The sky was almost as dark as your phone's screen when you caught a glimpse, save for the moon and the clouds that it shined through.

Your fingers pressed against your temples as you try to let your frustrations fade. Breathing in the cold air once you got outside practically smothered the burning anger to a lump of wet coal.

You sat on the cool stone steps at the side of the temple, keeping yourself out of view in case someone came from the same entrance you used. Slowly becoming as serene as the monkey statues that made you go on this weird little trip.

A smile slowly grew as you looked at the moon above and just enjoyed the soft light it emitted.

That probably lasted about a good 10 minutes before you heard someone speak.

“Hey guys, how’ve you been? You wouldn’t believe the day I had.”

If you hadn’t cooled off earlier, it didn’t matter. Your blood ran ice cold, all hairs on ends, and focusing on how far that voice was.

Close, the walls didn’t help at all.

Your muscles tensed as you kept your sounds to a minimum but wanted to cover the most ground.

“See you had a marathon without me,” the voice said with a laugh, like something about it lightened the load of his day.

Footsteps made their way, away from you specifically. To where, not your problem.

You would be wrong about that later.

You tiptoed between twigs and pebbles, hearing crickets chirp and monkeys chatter.

“Wow, you guys really cleaned up the place. Thanks!”

That made you stop just as you made contact with the stone floor that would lead to the temple gateway. You looked back, like you would be able to see this guy actually talk to the monkeys through those walls.

 _That would be silly,_ you wanted to dismiss. _Stupid, really._

“What do you mean it wasn’t you?”

Oh no.

“Are they still here?”

You started running, no care for silence anymore.

The sound of wood bursting rang in the empty air. You had barely gotten 3 steps when another deafening sound came.

The hard slam against stone and the cracking that came with it occurred barely a foot in front of you.

The force, the wind, the sound itself, pushed you back and to the ground.

Your hands scrambled to push yourself up but your muscles felt as limp as noodles.

You could see a pair of boots in the center of the crater in front of you. There was definitely someone in those shoes and they were looking straight at you.

Moonlight was able to make out the shape of him and some of his looks. Light brown hair, both slicked back and a lot on the sides of his face. Worn armor over a baggy long sleeve yellow shirt and one long red scarf that made it look like two. Red and green colors of his sash and cloak stuck out to you.

Your voice was stuck in your throat as whoever this was squatted down to your eye level.

Yellow eyes with a pair of thick eyebrows right over them stared at you, there was an almost maroon color on the skin around them compared to the rest of his peachy skin. (And why did he have such nice eyelashes?!)

“Hey, you okay?” He waved his hand near your face.

You managed to make a small but affirming grunt.

“Okay, good. I was worried I might have overdone it,” he told you in a chipper tone.

You blink, trying to focus on the guy in front of you. Big ears and tufts of hair on the back of his hands stuck out to you now.

“Might have?” you repeat, little amusement in the tone of your voice. “Who are you?”

_How can you talk to monkeys? It this a temple or a house?_

“Depends,” fangs showing in his smile. “I have a few names to go by.”

“Most commonly used,” you specified, focusing on the strange shape of his nose. That didn't look exactly human.

The being’s smile widened, his hand stroking his chin with the thought. His fingernails could almost be called claws with how they were shaped.

“Monkey King works well enough,” he answered. “Though feel free to call me Great Sage, Equal to Heaven. But, _Handsome_ Monkey King does have a nice ring to it.”

You think your brain short circuited, it had to at some point if you managed to fail to notice the tail that swayed right behind him.

“What about you? Pretty sure you have at least one name,” Monkey King asked back.

You could only stare into the golden eyes that reflected a sliver of the moon above.

“What?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hope this just stays in the single digits in terms of chapters, I can't keep making long reader fics.


	2. Common Interest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We're making progress here, just need to know if it's good or bad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So we all agree that's we're simps for this chimp apparently?

_Snap! Snap!_

“Hey, Earth to human,” Monkey King called out to you. “You still here?”

Blink, and blink again.

“You’re joking, right?” Was the first thought that came out of your mouth.

That did not seem like the response this so called Monkey King was going for. A confused chuckle left him, one of his brows arching up in wondering where this was coming from. His tail swaying and wrapping around his feet on occasion, making sure you wouldn’t be missing that detail anytime soon. “Want to run that by me on why you think that?”

You paused, not sure how to explain.

“You’ve been kind of M.I.A. with all the crazy stuff that’s been going on and there’s this one person that's been on the news acting like you,” your hand went to your chin as you tried to piece bits of wild events you had seen the past few months. “I kind of thought you were just... gone?”

Monkey King barely managed to hold his laugh from that.

“First, that’s MK you’ve been seeing. He’s my successor!” Monkey King explained, his smile showing pride in his student. “Second, I’m retired. That’s way different from being dead or whatever you were thinking.”

He tapped one of his fingers against your forehead, really pointing out how dumb the thought was. Monkey King soon stood up straight, looking like the hero from those legends with how dominating and mysterious the moonlight shrouded him.

“You gonna get up or what?” He asked.

You pushed yourself back up, getting a good idea of how tall the Monkey King was to you. Over half a head, maybe a bit less with how his hair stood up. You patted off whatever dust and dirt got on your pants while you had your little meeting with the ground.

“You still haven’t told me your name,” Monkey King mentioned, he brought his hands to his hips as he quickly scanned you.

“Uh,” you were embarrassed that he was right. You answered while rubbing at the back of your neck, turning away so you didn’t have to look him in the eye.

In the corner of your vision, you could see the Monkey King look up at the moon then back to you. “Why are you even here? I know I didn’t hire a cleaning service.”

“Oh!” You pulled your phone out of your bag, happy that it had a decent charge to it now. “I was taking pictures during my hike, then I saw the temple and wanted to see what else there was to it.”

You showed the Monkey King the pictures of the monkey statues along with a picture of the village nearby that basically got you into this. Then you got to the temple itself.

“Delete these,” the Monkey King said.

“What?! No!” You said back. “These are my pictures.”

“Yeah, I can’t let people know about my sha- sacred temple,” Monkey King answered. “If the public knows about it, it gets rid of the reason of having a private place.”

“If you don’t want people to bother you, you can stay on Flower Fruit Mountain,” you answered back just as quickly. “No one can go there and I wasn’t even going to post these online anyway.”

“You’re not?”

“Not really, maybe show it to a friend or two but these pictures are more for me than anything.” You swiped the picture app closed and shoved the phone back in your pocket, your hand still on it as a security measure.

“Huh,” Monkey King noted. “It a hobby of yours?”

“Kind of,” you mumbled. “Like hiking, I like to get away for a bit and having pictures is a nice memento.”

You couldn’t help but look back at the temple behind you.

“It’s really beautiful,” you told him. “Despite a few messes, it’s been kept in great condition and those monkeys sure seem to have nice time there too.”

“Well, yeah, it’s kind of a home away from home,” Monkey King confirmed. “I wish they had told me they were going to have that marathon though,” he added.

“Is it because it’s about you?”

“That, and the rest of the show is good too,” his smile wide and confident. “But it is nice to see that they know that every side is my good side.”

It got a laugh out of you. “You would have to be called Handsome Monkey King for some reason.”

The Monkey King wrapped his arm over your shoulder and brought you in a little too close for comfort. “You sure you’re not just saying that so I say that you can keep the pictures?”

“You’re the one that told me ‘Handsome Monkey King’ had a good ring to it.”

You were feeling your face get warmer you noticed. Was it because you were closer to him?

“Not wrong there,” he agreed, his smile changed and his eyebrows gave him a smug look.

Little details picked up in your eyes. You couldn’t help but notice how soft the peach skin and brown fur around him looked, the skin around his eyes were a different shade and shaped around the bottom of his brow to his nose. He had long lashes, longer than most, and it really was a nice addition to the golden eyes staring back at you.

You smiled back at him, only for a moment before you pulled his arm off your shoulders. “It was nice getting to know you but I gotta get going now.”

“Got work or something tomorrow?” His tail swayed and snapped in the air as he watched you walk out.

“Something,” you answered, not certain how much you’d care to tell him about yourself. Once you were just a couple steps away from the gate you added. “If you want, I can come over sometime later this week.”

“How ‘bout a Monkey King marathon?” You weren’t certain if his smile got wider from the idea he just pitched.

“Only if it’s the animated series,” you negotiated.

“Didn’t have anything else in mind,” he told you as he raised his hand to wave good-bye.

“Cool!” You smiled as you were making you’re way out of the broken gateway. Just as you were about to start your walk, you looked back at the Monkey King and waved back. “See ya later, Handsome!”

Your hand slapped over your mouth within the second that was said, your feet were on the same page and had you running out of the gateway's view.

What and why did you say that?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no idea where this is gonna go, so if you pitch ideas, I will absolutely consider them.


	3. Monkey Marathon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gotta hang out with him sometime.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man I am just writing like crazy right now. 3 chapters in 3 days, wild.

Apparently the day you encountered the living legend commonly known as Monkey King, a giant smoke monster was on a rampage in some neighboring mountains. You were a bit relieved that you didn’t see that happen but you were curious if Monkey King was involved, or that successor he mentioned.

There were some photos of when the smoke monster had attacked the city days earlier but you weren’t certain if that was the small figure you could make out jumping in the air was him or not. The tail trailing right behind it made you lean to the idea but when considering the variety of demons out there, it could have been something using the mayhem to its advantage.

You squinted out the window by your bed, sleep stuck in your eyes as an ominous fog seemed to lay over the city despite the once serene daylight.

“Yeah,” you muttered to yourself. “Not taking that chance.”

You made the decision to get dressed, grab the bike that was on your apartment balcony, then leave for the temple of the Great Sage Equal to Heaven.

If you were going to make visiting this Monkey King something of a habit or some regularity in your near future, the idea of biking there instead of a 3 hour hike one way before reaching a bus stop seemed like a good idea. Carrying the bike while walking the stone stairs that would lead to the gateway would be a different problem, but the time you would save seemed worth it.

Other than an occasional bump, the bike ride was smooth. That and you had taken the time to grab a cheese tea (or three) and a bunch of different bags of chips from a nearby shop in the village. The bag was light, but some of your anxiety was making it a lot heavier than you cared for.

Why did you do something like that? “See ya later, Handsome!?” Would it have killed you to just as quickly add “Monkey King” at the end instead of slapping your mouth?

No, you weren’t going to let that consume your thoughts and ruin a chance at making a friend out of a mystical being.

You weren’t going to make this weird dang it!

A flicker of light caught your eye, making you blink several times before looking up at the cause.

A huge bird was souring in the sky, circling over the sun above you, repeatedly having the sun flicker and shine. Your hand went over your brow for shade.

Is that an eagle? But what was going on with the tail? Was there something caught on it?

Your eyes adjusted as you kept your sight on it; there were a strange combination of green and red feathers. It seemed to be making its descent and you could make out what looked like a second tail?

It was getting a lot closer, almost like it was falling out of the sky with how the wings compressed against its body and let gravity take its course.

Okay, now it was looking like it was plummeting towards you.

“What the-?” is all you said before a cloud of dirt and dust came from the bird’s landing.

The ground in front of you cracked from the force, you nearly fell but managed to have a foot on the stone pavement and ready to keep you and your bike standing.

A flash of golden light came from the eagle only to turn into the Monkey King.

“I was wondering if you were gonna show up today,” he smiled at you.

You cough, feeling like some dirt had managed to make its way to your throat.

“What’s your problem? You could have crushed me!” You shouted at him, kicking the stand for your bike and getting off to get in his face.

“But I didn’t,” he looked smug saying that. He seemed to notice the backpack you were wearing. “You got something there?”

“Uh, yeah,” you answered by wiping at your mouth with the back of your hand, felt like there was still some dust on you. “I, um, brought snacks, for the marathon.”

“Nice, what kind?” He practically teleported behind you and was rummaging through your backpack. The unexpected weight caught you off guard as you tried to look behind you at what he was grabbing at.

“Barbecue, Sea Salt, Banana, Apple,” you could hear him listing off. There was a brief pause you noticed as you felt him pull one of the bags out. “Oh! I call dibs on this one,” he told you as he ripped open the bag of peach chips.

“Can we wait until the actual marathon?” you suggested as you turned around to face him properly, sliding the backpack off one of your shoulders and zipping it back up.

“Gonna take a while if we keep standing here,” Monkey King mentioned as you went back to your bike, hands ready on the handlebars. He took a chip from the bag and tossed it into his mouth.

“Well, if _someone_ didn’t make me stop, I would be somewhat closer.”

“I can cut that time in half, way more actually,” the Monkey King said to you, already at your shoulder from the sound of it.

“Okay, and how would that go?” you asked but he was gone when you turned around.

All you did was blink and the whole scene shifted, it was still shifting actually.

The ground below your feet was missing, your bike was now hanging in your hands as wind roared in your ears. You could feel something securely holding you in the sky but that didn't stop you from yelling.

“Calm down, I got ya!” Monkey King reassured with a laugh as he kept his grip on you while trailing the air in his somersault cloud.

This didn’t stop the string of curses leaving you.

You were taking deep, slow breaths once reunited with the sweet ground. There was immense regret from drinking those cheese teas now, nothing happened but you were fearing the worst.

A soft pat hit your back and the unexpectedness of it made you cough.

“Better now?” Monkey King asked, his voice sounding genuinely concerned.

“Just need a minute,” you mumbled. “I’ll be okay.”

You took in another deep breath, filling your lungs then letting out as much as you could.

“Can you, like, actually warn me if you do this again?” You asked, your fist curling at your mouth, not certain if something would happen.

“Yeah, I kind of forgot you humans aren’t really used to something like that,” he admitted, his hand reaching to his neck and rubbing at it. His expression mixed with worry and embarrassment.

Wait, was he apologizing?

“It’s fine,” you insisted. You took in one more deep breath, with it you stood up straight like you hadn’t been screaming your lungs out and losing your stomach from the flight not even 5 minutes ago. “Let’s just get to that marathon.”

“You sure?” He questioned, like he was letting you have an out on this.

You thought about the city and how there was a real ominous vibe creeping up in the morning. Yeah, you rather deal with one magical mischief maker than an army of bull clones.

“Yep,” you smiled at him which he ended up returning. Something about it made you feel relaxed and it made you keep your smile even after you looked away from him.

You were practically engrossed with the battle of Monkey King and Erlang on the screen, watching the shape-shifter duel get more and more intense with each transformation that came with it, the camera directions and the weight that each attack was given in the animation. It almost made you forget that this battle would end with Monkey King getting caught in a diamond snare thrown by Lao Tsu.

You booed at the scene. “Cheap shot!”

Monkey King laughed at the enthusiasm you exhibited, he wasn’t expecting you to be that into the show. “Tell me about it, doesn’t help that they shoved me in a magic furnace the next 49 days after that!”

You were still glued to the screen, munching on the sea salt chips and occasionally sipping the cheese tea that you had left over.

You smirked from him putting in his word on the matter, it was nice to that someone else was enjoying the show with you.

The show had been going on for hours but there wasn’t anything stopping this marathon, hearing the Monkey King’s commentary on events gave you a good laugh and some neat insight. There was something about his laugh that made your smile last longer than it needed to be.

You glanced at him, seeing him enjoy the snacks and show, along with several of his fellow monkeys enjoying the show or just chilling.

The Monkey King looked back at you, his smile showing off his fangs and his eyes almost shining in the lights the lamps made.

This was nice, you thought. You could definitely get used to these marathons.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do have work the following day so that might put a pause on things, guess we'll have to wait and see.


	4. Wake Up Call

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WAKE UP!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please give me ideas on what happens next!

Your face scrunched up as you were finding yourself waking up thanks to the sun peaking out the windows, you pressed then dug yourself into the warm fabrics that were against your skin to hide from the morning. It was too late though, coherent thoughts were forming and subtle sounds like bird chirps were pricking your ears.

A muffled groan managed to escape, you pulled away from the blanket you were on and brought your hands to your face to rub out any junk that may be at the edges of your eyes. After a good stretch of the arms and back, you opened your eyes to the day.

Your eyes started darting when you realized this wasn’t your place, heck, you weren’t even in the city from the looks of what was out the window. There were several bags of different chips, empty glasses, and one small monkey sleeping on the table. On the wall were some seriously old scrolls that were inked with sacred prayers. Then you turned to the body that was right beside you on the couch.

How did you let yourself miss that?!

Monkey King had his head on the back of the couch, mouth opening to yawn then promptly shut it after. His fangs looked a lot bigger than before but it could have been that his lips seemed to draw back from that. He started to move, cracking his bones by moving them out of their stiff position.

Your mind just realized that there wasn’t a blanket on the couch, but you did notice his giant scarf wrapped around him and also once of the ends wrapped around your waist. You went to grab it off and froze when you felt the cloth was the same as the blanket you thought were pressing your face against. Did you spend the night sleeping next to the Monkey King?

You put your hands together almost like a prayer and brought them to your mouth, with a deep breath you started screaming into the void that was your mind. If there was dead silence, maybe your strained scream could be heard deep in the base of your throat.

The Monkey King blinked himself awake after that, he looked at window to see it was now day then turned to you. “Oh, you’re still here,” he said casually, there was no annoyance to be heard in his tone.

Your eyes darted in a different direction after catching his smile, hands now away from your face and pushing you off the couch.

“I think I stayed too long,” you told him, grabbing the now empty backpack off the ground and tossing it over your shoulders in a quick motion.

“It’s cool,” Monkey King said as his tail went to grab the remote from the table and toss it to his hand. “Not like I have any plans today.”

You watched the TV screen turn black after hearing the click of the remote. A moment passed in your head if you had plans but it all came up blank. Also with how the Demon Bull King was constantly causing panic in the city, plans getting unexpectedly canceled to focus on safety was becoming the norm.

You pulled your phone out and searched the news if your instincts were right on leaving yesterday, sure enough, it was on the money as you scrolled to see a picture of several demolished streets, wrecked buildings, and destroyed bull clones.

 _Dodged a bullet there,_ you commented in your head.

There was another picture, much different from the damages that were shown earlier, a giant mech that looked a lot like the one from the video game Monkey Mech. You could see some figures sitting on the shoulder of the mech and zoomed in as much as you could to get a better look at them.

You could see two teenagers holding something, a pig demon(?), was that a monk, and a blue demon(?) who was easily twice the size of the rest of the group. (Okay, was the blue guy holding a cat with blue fur and an orange mohawk?)

"So which one of these is your successor?" You asked the Monkey King, about to turn your phone to him only for him to be right at your shoulder as if to cut time in taking it from your hand.

The Monkey King took a quick look and pointed at the boy in the yellow-orange jacket between the pig demon and the girl with a green jacket and white pants. “There’s MK!”

“Okay,” you mumbled.

“No, MK,” he corrected.

You weren’t going to fall for that and instead said, “He’s younger than I thought he would be.”

He was easily a few years younger than you and had a very endearing smile, a warmth that could be felt through even a poorly taken photo.

“Well, he is called Monkie Kid, not Monkey Man.”

“Whatever,” You smiled at the joke despite shaking your head at it. You put your phone back in your pocket afterward and started walking out of the temple to your bike leaning by the gate.

“So what did you think?” Monkey King asked, walking by your side with his hands behind his head.

“I had fun,” you admitted, the look in your eyes showing that it was an honest answer.

“We should do it again sometime,” Monkey King suggested, baring his teeth in his smile.

“Like same time next week?” You thought aloud, picking up your bike to get ready for the journey of a million stone steps right out the gate.

“Sure,” he beamed. “Oh yeah, there something I wanted to ask you.”

Your blood ran cold. “Yeah?”

_PLEASE DON'T LET THIS BE ABOUT THE HANDSOME COMMENT!_

“I can fly you over the trail if you want,” he said instead, his hands leaving the back of his head and going to his hips. “Figure it would be a lot easier, plus you’d save a lot more time.”

You let out a huge mental sigh of relief.

“I guess,” you answered but held up a hand quickly as a sign not to start already like the last time. “But can I, like, get you a cheese tea as thanks? I’d kind of feel uncomfortable if I don’t give something in return.”

“Sure,” he answered back. You weren’t certain if his smile changed in the slightest or it was a trick of the light.

Being prepared sure made a huge difference in flying on Monkey King’s somersault cloud. Your bike was hooked under your arm while you in turn were held at the waist. The view was so much better when you got rid of the screaming and fear of death. Both of you zipped past the stone path in a second, but the wind didn’t feel as rough and everything didn’t mesh together from the speed. It felt like the wind plastered a smile onto your face, an occasional laugh escaped you from how amazed you were to everything in this perspective. You would make quick glances at the Monkey King, noticing his smile from his own enjoyment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I start my work week tomorrow so if there isn't a new chapter. That's why.


	5. Gateway

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Is anyone gonna fix that gate?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also for like reference, it's now been a month since you've met Monkey King, but that's kind of obvious.

“You are _really_ taking your time on fixing that gate, aren’t you?” You commented, arms crossed over your chest as you blatantly judged the lack of progress.

“Doorways don’t exactly fix themselves you know,” the Monkey King argued, his hands on his lap, legs crisscross in the air while his tail kept the rest of his body off the ground.

“But it’s been a month,” you pointed out. “At least.”

It could have been longer for all you knew, you didn’t exactly have a point of reference on when this was destroyed.

“Like you could do better,” Monkey King said aloud.

“Maybe I can,” you told him.

“Huh?”

“I’m pretty decent at woodworking,” you answered. “Like I’ve helped with a few projects that are about this size and it should be simple enough. It’s literally a door.”

The Monkey King leaned toward you, his eyebrows raised high and eyes wide in surprise.

“What?” You felt your face get warm from his stare.

“I didn’t know that about you,” Monkey King answered back.

“I’m not a fan about talking about work,” you mumbled, “especially on my weekend.”

“Wait, that’s your job?” His voice a little higher from the surprise.

“Yes, it’s my job! Can we stop talking about it already?”

“Okay. So you can fix this?” the Monkey King went with instead.

“If you give me the materials and the equipment, yeah,” you said. “I might not be able to physically move it though since it’s pretty big.”

“Well I can get that stuff done,” Monkey King told you. “Just what do you need?”

You paused, not completely sure if this would come back to bite you. “How’d you get the wood?”

“We’re surrounded by trees,” he went with. It was kind of self-explanatory.

“The metal?”

“The pieces are still all there, just rip gotta them off and get them back on.”

“Alright, now what about equipment, like saws and hammers?”

“ _Hello?_ Do you not know who I am?”

“I know you were a stable boy a thousand years ago.”

“You will never bring that up again,” his voice dead serious from that.

You couldn’t help but laugh from it.

“Okay, fine. Never again,” you scratched at your temple to think. “You got a chalk line I can use?”

“A what?”

“Figures,” you mumbled.

After you finished figuring out the measurements, you drew thin lines on the huge chunks of wood Monkey King brought. Sweat formed on your brow as the sun beat against your back, the back of your hand and wrist wiping it off so it wouldn’t get to your eyes. Once you were certain, measure twice and cut once, you pushed yourself off and took a few steps back.

“So if you can slice here, here, and here,” you pointed at all the lines, “we should have our base done.”

“Easy,” Monkey King said as he stretched his arms then cracked his knuckles in preparation.

He kicked the giant pieces of wood high into the sky and jumped up to follow them. You could barely make out the shapes but you figured the one cutting through everything was the Monkey King. The sun blinded you until shade came out of nowhere.

_OH, NOT AGAIN!_

You ran away from where you stood and rushed out the very gateway you were repairing.

_CRASH!_

You peaked out once you heard a second crash to the ground. You saw Monkey King in front of the cut wood on the ground, you noticed it was less than what he started with.

“Where’s the leftover pieces?” you questioned, making your way back inside the temple’s front garden.

“I just kicked them off to the side while I was at it,” he answered.

You squinted in suspicion at him, not certain how to take that. “Alright.”

“What?!”

You shook your head. “You know what, never mind. Can you get the steel off and bend it over the door? We can work on the locks after.”

“Please,” Monkey King smirked at you even putting his strength to question. You rolled your eyes in response.

Your unimpressed expression turned to a mix of fear and awe as he pulled the steel off the wood like it was a rubber cast from a mold. That feeling stayed for a few minutes, especially seeing him bend the metal over the new door and slam giant bolts back in. A feeling of dread started to take over the pit of your stomach. You and your skills were nothing compared to the small feats the mystical being was pulling out his sleeves, never mind what he could do if he actually tried.

“Okay, anything else?” the Monkey King asked as he clapped the dust off his hands. His smile grew when he heard his fellow monkeys cheering at his bouts of strength.

“Just need the restraints back in and the log that you need to lock the gate,” you answered, your once mixed expression turning apathetic. “And we should be done with the door.”

“That’s it?”

“Yeah.”

“Huh,” is all he said. “I figured there would be more.”

“We still have to attach the door to the gate, you know,” you answered. “Still don’t get why this took you so long, Monkey King.”

“You say that but if it wasn’t fixed you wouldn’t have met me,” the Monkey King said as he grabbed you by the shoulder and pulled you close. Your eyes going wide and mouth turning to a thin line to hold your words in. “Admit it; you’re happy that this thing kind of brought us together.”

You avoided looking him in the eye, trying to focus on the gateway ahead. A deep breath was made before you answered. “Can we just get this done?”

You wanted to focus on just the task, trying to push out all the other thoughts that were filled with poison.

“There a reason you don’t like talking about work?” Monkey King asked as he ate from his bag of peach chips. “‘Cause from the looks of it, you were really in the zone and knew what you’re doing.”

“It’s nothing,” you muttered, taking another sip of your water then capping the bottle.

“I don’t think it’s nothing,” the Monkey King told you. “You seem kind of upset about it.”

“I swear it’s nothing,” you said.

“Look, you don’t have to be embarrassed about it, it’s a pretty neat skill."

“Yeah right,” you snarked, eyebrows knitting together and stare becoming ice cold. “Look who’s talking!”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Well you’re this, this,” you were struggling to think of what to say. “This mythical monkey with this huge backstory, like fighting demons, getting immortality 5 times, and journeying several thousand miles to bring enlightenment to the West! Me just telling you how to fix a door isn’t anything special, you could have just put a boulder over the entrance and call it a day.”

Your hands struggled not to become fists but they slowly looked like claws with how your fingers curled, slight tremors came from the stress pent up in your muscles. You could see the smallest cuts and scars from your years of woodworking, but they looked more like mistakes than experience.

“I’m just, just,” you were choking on your words for the moment, “nothing.”

Your face burned, eyes filled with so much disdain aimed at yourself and no one else.

“That’s not true,” Monkey King said matter-of-factly. Those words snapped you out of it for a second to look up at him. “You’re my friend and not everyone can say that. There’s gotta be something amazing about you if the universe can find a way for us to meet.”

The way he said it seem to wash the doubt away, a small smile crept its way on your face. His hand pressed against your shoulder, there was force to it but it was reassuring too.

“Uh, thanks,” you mumbled, “I don't know-“

“Don’t worry about it!” He laughed. “We all get in our moods.”

“You would know that, stable boy,” you snarked.

You could swear you felt him barely stopping himself from crushing your shoulder but you couldn’t help laughing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now back to sleep! Zzz...


	6. Deal with Duplication

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just how long many hours did you stay up watching Monkey King: The Animated Series?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

7 seasons down, 11 more to go, you thought to yourself as the end credits of the season finale displayed on the screen. You struggled to stay awake, rubbing at your face in hopes the stimulation was enough to push your exhaustion away.

Nope.

You put in way too much energy in just keeping your eyes open. The urge to just close them for a couple moments was becoming more and more tempting by the second.

But... Monkey King marathon...

“You doing okay there, bud?” the Monkey King himself asked.

Your hands slid from your face to your scalp, scratching at the top of your head so any sensation can keep you up. “Just a little tired,” you yawned then propped your chin with one of your hands.

One of the monkeys hanging out with you jumped onto your shoulders and started picking through your hair, grooming and searching for a possible snack. The quick change in weight woke you up but it felt like it was going to fade just as fast.

A soft chuckle came from Monkey King. “We can call it night if you’re done.”

You gave him your best attempt at a scowl but it just came off as a sleepy pout with one of your eyes shut from the fatigue. A few smacks came from your mouth after another yawn; there was an aftertaste of the peach chips you tried. Not a huge of a fan of the flavor but you could see yourself snacking on them if there was nothing else.

“I’m fine with you spending the night,” Monkey King told you, giving a skeptical look on how tired you were.

You shook your head, the small monkey jumped off your shoulder after that. “I rather not.”

“You got a plan on how to get home then?”

“I’ll figure it out,” you groaned, your head slipping out of your hand for a moment. The jolt of gravity briefly woke you, eyes blinking rapidly and way more aware.

“Yeah, I’m not buying it,” the Monkey King told you, grabbing your face and getting a good look into your eyes.

You struggled to blink again, bothered that it wouldn’t help your argument.

The Monkey King’s hands felt both hard and soft, like hardening clay. It made sense with how he was born from a stone egg, but also all the calluses of hard training and tough battles. Without thought, you leaned into them. A smile growing from the warmth you felt.

The Monkey King paused, a bit perplexed from your expression.

“Yeah,” he said to himself. “I’m not letting you go out like this.”

He let go of your face and you felt a slight drop from the lack of support. “So what are you going to do about it?”

The Monkey King pulled back after that, one hand on his hip as the other going to the side of his head, tugging at his hair and plucking a strand. He blew on it and let it float with the breeze until it shined like gold. The light then burst into a copy of the Monkey King.

“Oh no, there’s two of you,” you commented.

“Hey!” the copy complained.

The original Monkey King shook his head so his duplicate wouldn’t start anything. He soon got back in your face, snapping his fingers to direct your attention to him.

“Yeah?” you asked, getting really tired of him getting in your personal space.

“He’s taking you home,” he answered. “You said you don’t want to stay here, and I’m pretty sure you’ll get lost, at best, with how you are right now.”

You only pouted at the comment.

“Why a clone though?”

“Saves time,” the duplicate told you. “I’ll just poof once I’m done.”

“I need to get back to Flower Fruit Mountain by morning since I have a training session scheduled,” Monkey King explained.

“You guys don’t even know where I live,” you noted.

“We’ll work on it,” OG Monkey King said. “‘Sides, pretty sure you rather sleep in your room than a sidewalk.”

Dang it, he had a point.

“Fine,” you groaned, pushing yourself off the couch and grabbing your backpack from the other side of the armrest. “Let’s just get this over with.”

Was your place even clean enough for guests? You really hope he wouldn't have to see your room.

The Monkey King duplicate and you zipped through the sky on his somersault cloud, he had your backpack on him and your bike strapped to his person thanks to some sturdy vines. The Monkey King absolutely did not trust you to even stand on your own two feet from what you noticed; he had the back of your legs hooked over one of his arms while the other held your torso and pulled you close to his side. Both of your faces a lot closer than what you were used to, even including his lack of personal boundaries.

You don't think you ever had this good a view of his profile; his brown hair being pushed back from the whipping wind, his gold eyes focused on what was ahead, the line his mouth made when he actually managed to stay quiet. The title Handsome Monkey King did make sense when you had this good a look of him.

_Wait..._

You tried to turn away but you were basically stuck in this position and the copy took this as a sign that you were trying to speak to him.

“What’s up?”

Your mind was buzzing, gotta think of something quick. You saw an unlit neon noodle shop sign with a chef pig caricature holding a bowl of noodles, that was _Pigsy's Noodles_ and that place should only be a few blocks from your apartment.

“We’re just a few streets away, like turn left at the third light and right on the second,” you answered, trying hard not to scream in his ear while still being loud enough to talk over the wind.

Naturally, Monkey King didn’t go by the ways of the road and went in a straight line over the buildings and to the block you live on.

“Which building?” the Monkey King asked you.

“Um, second one on the left, third floor,” you told him.

You could see your balcony, it had a chair and a small table that you would get to use for when you wanted to enjoy the sunlight and maybe even read a book in the nice weather.

The Monkey King gracefully jumped off his cloud and onto the railing, landing on the balls of his feet, he let your legs drop to the floor and soon after let the top half of you go. He then ripped the vines off him and set your bike down along with your backpack

You smiled when the ground was below your feet once more.

“I have a question to ask," you wondered aloud.

“What is it?” he asked, stretching his arms after carrying you.

“Does the original remember what happens to the duplicate after they vanish?”

“Weird question, but not really,” Monkey King answered, his smile just as charming as the original's. “Maybe bits and pieces but not much.”

“Okay,” you told him. “I was just wondering.” You quickly gave him a peck on the cheek and pulled away just as fast. “Thanks!”

The Monkey King stared at you with wide eyes, the coloring on his face tinted just a bit redder, his tail snapped like he had just been shocked by a charged piece of metal. Before a word came out, the copy vanished and all that was left in his place was the hair he was made of, the wind picked it up and tossed it into the unknown.

You pressed your hand against your face, your eye peeking between the spaces of your fingers and staring at the space where the copy was.

_Stupid._

You hoped, no, prayed to the entire court in the kingdom of heaven that this wasn’t something that the Monkey King would know of.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Be real with me here, why do you like this fic?


	7. Monkeying Around

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You think that copy was telling the truth?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I think after chapter 10 I'm gonna take a short break. Like only post on chapters Saturday thru Tuesday since those are my days off of work. (I'll still be writing them, just have some extra time to relax.)

After giving a quick peck on the cheek to a copy, you promptly sealed away that memory, pushing it whenever it made rounds in your mind. You managed to not think about it for a day, but as the week continued to creep on by and change into the weekend, your head was screaming over the thought. And now you’re back at the temple, walking by the Monkey King’s side for your weekly marathon.

“Hey,” you started out with, working up the nerve to ask. “Do you remember anything from taking me home last week?”

“I know you passed a noodle shop on the way there,” Monkey King answered as he tossed another peach chip into his mouth. “And the copy got you home, that’s all really.”

“Hmm,” was all that you could think to say, well, hum.

Now it feels like you spent the week freaking out over nothing. Still, it was a relief to hear. At least you could rest easy now, starting with season 8 of Monkey King: The Animated Series.

The monkeys that lived at the temple seemed to be in a mood of all things, they kept jumping over and on the table, screeching at each other like they were in huge arguments. After trying to watch one episode, pausing to not miss any details in conversations, replaying entire scenes because a monkey’s head eclipsed the screen, you looked at the Monkey King to see if he was just as bothered by the nuisances just as well.

The Monkey King looked at you with the same expression of annoyance, he made a glance at the TV then back to you before pointing with his thumb that the both of you would have a better time leaving the room than staying. You could only nod in agreement with that.

Quickly you both left and went to the hallway just outside of the room, you could only rub the back of your neck and look back at the monkeys enjoying the show as Monkey King closed it to muffle the noise.

“Got a back up plan?” you asked.

The Monkey King sucked in air through his bared teeth as he came to an answer.

“Not really,” he admitted. “That’s the only TV here.”

“How long do you think they’ll be like this?”

“Couple hours,” Monkey King told you. “They’re kind of having a big argument by their standards.”

Part of you wanted to ask what it was but you didn’t want this day to end up with you being a therapist to a troop of potentially mystical monkeys.

_Wait!_

You pulled out your phone, remembering you had the same streaming service that the Monkey King was using. (That was a sentence you never thought would apply to your life.)

You scrolled through your phone for the app and showed it to Monkey King. “I think we’re covered now.”

“Is the battery even going to last a whole season though?”

“I got a battery pack just for that reason!” You answered with pride.

“And the yelling?”

You paused for a moment before taking out a pair of earphones from your front backpack pocket.

“I guess we can share,” you told him. “Sorry, I don’t have any of those sharing type plugs.”

The Monkey King cocked his head just a bit, looking at the pair of earbuds in your hand.

“It’ll work,” he simply stated then soon sat on the wooden floor.

“You wanna watch here?”

“We’re already wasting time, also we’ll be able to hear when those guys are done bickering if we’re nearby,” Monkey King answered, his tail swaying eagerly to get back to watching the cartoon.

You didn’t say anything as you sat on the ground next to him, bringing out to one of the earphones for him to use while you put the other in your own.

As the show’s theme song began to play, Monkey King placed his head against your shoulder, getting a better view of the screen and something of a pillow too.

Grateful that his eyes were focused on the screen, your own darted back and forth from him to the show. You took your time taking deep yet quiet breaths to stop your heart from rapidly beating from the stress.

Why was this stressing you out so much? You shouldn’t be this on edge while watching a cartoon!

You were supposed to enjoy this time, getting to watch some fun action sequences and have the Monkey King himself tell you how those adventures felt all those centuries ago along with bits of trivia.

_Stop overthinking this!_

You took another slow, deep breath then had your head lean against the top of the Monkey King’s. His hair was soft, a lot softer than yours. (Did he use conditioner? Could you ask him what brand later or would that be weird?)

You could smell peaches but a quick glace revealed that it was just a bag of chips. Strangely enough, the Monkey King could sense that and offered you some by bringing them closer to your nose.

“Uh, I’m okay,” you mumbled. “Maybe later.”

“Suit yourself,” Monkey King told you as he took another bite.

After a few hours of sitting against the wall together, the monkeys in the neighboring room finally had reached some kind of truce or had burnt themselves out and fell asleep. Their chatter became white noise in a sense and you almost failed to notice its absence.

Monkey King picked it up though and was quick to pause the video. “Sounds like they’re done.”

As he went to stand, he was quickly caught on the earphone still in his ear and attached to your device.

You made a face, straining yourself from laughing at something that had happened to you countless times. You had to look away from him as he pulled the earbud out, hearing him sound a little huffy over it. You could only let your laughter out through your nose so you wouldn’t be too obvious in the amusement you got from it. Soon after you stood up, pulled the earphone jack out of your phone, and connected it to your battery pack.

You watched the Monkey King open the door and a sea of small monkeys poured out of the room. Yeah, they were definitely done with whatever beef they had and were more than ready to move on and have some fun outside the wooden walls.

The Monkey King and you hopped back up on the couch, quick to pick up where you just left off but with more comforts available. Cushioned couch, table for snacks (or what was left of them), and a TV that you didn’t have to hold steady in your hand.

As the theme song hit its second verse, you felt something on your lap. You looked down and saw the Monkey King lying over your legs, an arm keeping his head propped to watch the screen properly.

Oh, this was so much worse than the shoulder headrest.

But a part of you was happy he was this close. You only hoped that he wouldn’t notice the shade of red painting your cheeks that came with the glances you gave him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also I have another reader fic in the works, specifically involving Macaque! (People really seem to want that from what my tumblr notifications are telling me.)


	8. Talking to Yourself

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Do you watch nothing but Monkey King: The Animated Series with him or do you take breaks from time to time?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mind buzzing...

Deep breaths, you told yourself. Ignore all distractions.

That was a bit of a challenge when one of those said distractions was using your lap as a pillow while you were trying to watch something that wasn't Monkey King related on the TV for once. The Monkey King himself looked to be dreaming peacefully, the corners of his mouth curled up ever so slightly and his tail swinging off the couch on occasion.

Slowly you brought your hand to the top of his head, brushing back some of the hair that was splayed on his forehead. His brown fur almost felt like a mix of cotton and silk, soft and smooth. The Monkey King seemed to lean toward your touch, his smile growing just a bit before settling back onto your lap.

You could feel that you were mirroring his smile, but you couldn’t help but feel sad. It’s not like your chances with telling him how you felt were looking all that good; his copy vanished to avoid speaking after just a peck on the cheek. How else were you supposed to take that?

Also, he was immortal, 5 times over actually. You’d probably be distant memory to him sooner than you realized. Not like you could scribble your name out of the book of mortals or get your hands on a peach of immortality anytime soon. You could only let out a sigh as your head leaned over the back of the couch, a stray finger gently curling in the Monkey King’s hair.

“Hey,” you mumbled, hoping for no answer.

Nothing came from the Monkey King.

“I’m glad I met you,” you told him. “It’s been really nice hanging out with you, watching cartoons, having snacks...”

Still no word.

“You’re kind of, a lot to deal with,” you continued on, your fingers no longer combing his hair. “But considering what you could do, I think I’m doing a lot better than most. It probably helps that I like you.”

Faceless beings of the Heavenly Court came to mind for a moment then promptly turned into the Monkey King's confident smile.

You shut your eyes, taking in a deep breath. You pulled your hand away and decided to stretch your body after the lack of movement, hands now behind your head to have it propped.

“I’m not sure what else we can do when we finish the series,” you said. “But I still want to hang out with you.”

“Same here,” the Monkey King replied.

You shot up straight, ice running through your veins, and eyes wide in surprise. You stared at the monkey that was listening to you be more honest than you cared for.

The Monkey King smiled at you, eyes crinkled and teeth baring. He looked awfully smug for someone you were about to push off your lap.

He yelped in surprise, a soft thud came from the ground. Your face burned as you walked away from the Monkey King.

“I can’t believe you,” is all you muttered. You grabbed your backpack and started making your way out the temple.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” the Monkey King asked.

You kept your lip zipped, pressure building right between your eyes, nostrils flaring to take in any air to keep your cool.

The Monkey King got in front of you. “Why are you so mad right now? I can’t work with you if you don’t tell me anything.”

You were forced to stop your tracks, looking away from his face. With a deep breath to ease your nerves, you asked, “How much did you hear?”

“Huh?” Confusion spread across Monkey King’s face, like he wasn’t sure what the deal was.

“You know what, never mind,” you back tracked. “It doesn’t matter, it’s dumb anyway.”

The Monkey King kept the confused expression, worry seemed to mix in as he tilted his head.

You pressed your hands together like a prayer and brought them to your face, breathing in deep to collect at least one thought. With an exhale, you dropped your hands to your sides.

“It’s nothing, I just thought,” you didn’t know how to word it just yet. “I thought you were asleep when I said that.”

“Well, it’s not like you said anything embarrassing,” Monkey King spoke.

“It felt like it,” you admitted.

“Not sure I’m following.”

You wanted to tell him that you were feeling something that wasn’t strictly platonic, but you worried that it would make you into something of joke if you did.

“I was just talking to myself,” you went with.

“Nothing wrong with that,” Monkey King told you. “I spent 500 years under a mountain, if anything, talking to yourself helps, like a lot.”

Your shoulders dropped as some of the stress left but...

“Am I just here to waste time?”

“What?”

“Am I just here so you can waste time?” you asked again, your hand going to your shoulder as a means to comfort yourself. “Like, am I just here so that way you don’t get bored while you wait to train your successor?”

The Monkey King looked surprised that you would say something like this. “Why’d you think that?”

“I, I don’t know,” you answered. “I just...”

You wanted to stop talking, wished that this conversation would just move on. Monkey King placed his hand over the one on your shoulder, his grip being nothing but comforting.

“Listen, whatever negative stuff you’re thinking, it’s not true.”

You said nothing, but you did glance back at him. His gold eyes being as warm as the morning sun.

“Hey, I got an idea! We can do something else instead of a marathon next time.”

“What were you thinking?”

“There’s a festival going on in the village the day after the Mid-Autumn Festival,” he told you. “We can go if you want.”

“I mean, sure but...”

“But what?”

“Are you really going to go out like that?”

“Like what?” he asked you.

“You’re going to stand out if you go as you,” you tried to explain. You cupped your hands behind your ears to make them look bigger like his then raising an eyebrow for him to get the idea. “The tail’s going to be a dead giveaway too.”

“You’re worrying about nothing,” he told you. “If you forgot, I am a master of 72 earthly transformations.”

“So what are you going to go as? I think the monkey tail is going to be a bit of an issue regardless.”

“You’re acting like I don’t want the attention,” the Monkey King joked. “But no, cool your jets, I got a plan.”

Your breath came out with a laugh. “Alright, fine.”

“That’s the guy I know,” he told you, giving your shoulder a soft pat. “You wanna go back to the marathon or did you finally figure out something to watch?”

You rolled your eyes just slightly at that, the smile gave away that you weren't bothered by it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh, sleepy...


	9. Festival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Any guesses what festival is right after the Mid-Autumn Festival?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not certain what I can do with this story after this chapter...

You crouched by the pillar with a stone monkey, one of the two that waited at the beginning of the trail that would lead to Monkey King’s temple. On occasion you would skim through your phone to play games and surf the web but you would get bored all too quickly.

A pair of legs stood nearby, you waited for the person to continue walking but they didn’t move. After another moment of nothing you looked up at whoever it was next to you.

You looked at the guy who stood over you. He wore rustic yellow long sleeve shirt, dark red pants, and a pair of worn black boots. A deep red jacket with teal green accents that wrapped around his waist along with a belt made out of a material you couldn't quite place. He had light brown hair that was slicked back and a pair of sideburns that framed his face, his eyebrows were thick and black while his light brown eyes almost looked golden from this angle.

“Can I help you?” you asked, your eyes tempted to go back to your screen to avoid a possible awkward conversation.

The man crouched down, his voice sounding oddly familiar. “Whatcha talking about? We promised to go the festival together.”

His smile, baring his fangs, made it finally click in your head.

“Monkey King?”

“The one and only,” he said oh so proudly, standing up straight with his arms crossed over his chest.

You gave him another once over at his new form. “Wow,” you commented in surprise.

“You like it?” he asked with a smirk.

“In a sense,” you quickly went with. You pushed yourself off the ground and stood by him. “Here I was worried you’d be going as some kind of bug.”

The Monkey King chuckled at the thought. “Yeah, no. I’m actually going to enjoy the festival, not just observe.”

The two of you started to walk to the village, catching up on what’s been going on from your job to him training his successor. You couldn’t stop yourself from all the smiling but it helped that he kept the same expression too.

As you were about to reach the village center, you came in mind to ask. “So what’s the festival here called?”

“The Monkey King Festival,” he answered all to easily.

For a moment it felt like you had gone through all five stages of grief with that answer.

“Of course it is,” you said with a breath close to a laugh.

The Monkey King smiled at you, getting some joy from your annoyance but also knowing it was all in good fun.

The festival was nice so far; the ritual burnings of paper offerings and incense left a nice but somewhat overpowering scent in the air, watching Taoists performing acrobatic feats similar to the Monkey King himself was fun too. You were certain that Monkey King’s performance would be much more impressive but you kept that thought in your head.

There was a booth selling peach tea and a few leftover mooncakes from yesterday. (For cheap too, you noticed.) You couldn’t help but notice the Monkey King was quick to grab at the food and looked ready to just walk away.

You were just as quick to grab his wrist to stop him.

“Stop that!” you whispered to him. “You need to pay for that.”

“It’s my day though,” he told you, making sure his volume was at the same level as yours.

“They don’t know that,” you reminded him as you pulled the box of mooncakes out of his hand. You soon gave your card to cover for the food and asked for two cups of peach tea also.

From the corner of your eye, you could see a couple of macaques swipe from the box filled with fruit and run off with it.

“They didn’t pay,” Monkey King whispered to you as you were given bags for your food and drinks.

“Yeah, well, you’re not a monkey right now, are you?” you told him back as you tugged at his wrist to get moving and find a place to eat. You let go of him once he got with the program.

The two of you sat against a wall of one of the stores near the outer edges of the village, away from the hustle and bustle of the festival so you could talk freely with no worries.

The peach tea was sweeter than you expected but Monkey King didn’t seem to mind as he just drank it with no real pause.

“This was fun,” you told him, taking another sip of your tea after.

“I’m glad, I was hoping you’d like it,” Monkey King told you as he sucked up the last of his drink. He went for the box holding the mooncakes and shoved his empty cup into the plastic bag in exchange.

“The acrobatic stunts were not something I was expecting,” you admitted.

“They’ve been getting better and better each year,” Monkey King commented.

“But nothing compared to the Great Sage Equal to Heaven?”

“Oh, it was never a question to beginning with,” he laughed.

You smiled back at him, enjoying the sound of it. Once you finished the last of your tea you asked, “Hey, would it be okay if I can call you Sun Wukong?”

“I mean, sure,” The Monkey King answered, one of his fangs peeking in his smile. “But I was kind of hoping you would finally stick with Handsome.”

If your drink hadn’t been empty, it would have spilled all over your lap thanks to the visceral reaction of crushing your cup from hearing that.

“You remember that?!”

“Kind of hard to forget,” he mused.

“Yeah, I’m going to go back to the ritual burning,” you told him flatly, standing back up and hoping the death by fire would be better than the embarrassment you were feeling.

“Hey, hey,” you heard Monkey King call before he picked you up from the ground and placed you back in front of him. “It’s alright; I don’t blame you for saying that. It _is_ in my title and it wasn’t that for nothing.”

You took in a deep breath, holding the desire to yell into the heavens and beg that this wasn’t happening. “You don’t get it, do you?”

The Monkey King said nothing, he waited for you to continue on.

“I kind of,” your throat was trying to choke the words from coming out but you kept going. “I like you.”

“Yeah, I like you too,” his casual tone telling you that he meant it in a different way.

“No, I mean,” you were trying to think of way to say it without it sounding sickly sweet or flat out embarrassing. You decided to go in a different direction, actions did speak louder than words.

You grabbed at his shirt, getting close to his face and quickly kissed his cheek before releasing him.

Your face was red from what you did but you kept facing forward, holding back the desire to turn away and run for it.

The Monkey King didn’t look impressed by that, his cocky expression much different from the shock the copy shown to you weeks ago.

“C’mon,” he told you. “You can do better than that.”

His hand gripped at your shoulder, his other holding your cheek and keeping you still. He pressed his lips against yours, the warmth shocking you for a moment before closing your eyes to block out everything that wasn’t his touch.

There was a brief moment where you could feel his lips pull away before coming back a little harder, something pushed against your teeth. You snapped out of the bliss of a blank mind and pushed him away, covering your mouth and let your laughter spill out from your lips.

The Monkey King gave you the shocked look that you had seen once before, you almost expected him to vanish in a burst of light to be replaced with hair. You couldn’t stop cackling, that face made this so much better.

“What?” He was not expecting this turn in events.

“Was that your tongue?!” You couldn’t help keep going. “I thought I had it bad!”

The Monkey King didn’t say anything, his face turning red. He almost looked like he had turned back to his true form but the lack of hair around his face told you otherwise.

Your smile felt like it was going to break your face with how much it was hurting but you couldn't stop.

“You know, if I could die, I would definitely be considering that ritual burning you mentioned right about now,” Monkey King told you.

Every time you thought you could stop smiling, he brought it right back. You placed your hands on both sides of his face and brought yourself to him. The kiss being quick and soft before you pulled back to look at him. He smiled back at you, a laugh coming out of him just as well.

All the stress you had been holding in the past few weeks seemed to just vanish right then and there.

You weren’t certain what would happen next but you didn’t worry about it right now.

You just focused on Sun Wukong and how you were so relieved that he liked you back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THERE IT IS!  
> Oh yeah, I made a kofi in case anyone wants to donate! It's ko-fi.com/hattiechats


	10. Gold and Silver

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What is a day in the life of the city with constant attacks of demons and their general chaos?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I'm gonna start posting chapters Sunday-Tuesday. I'll probably start posting the Macaque/Reader fic sometime this week.

You would have said you felt like you were walking on air the day after but you knew what that was actually like, or at least close enough since you were only a passenger on the Monkey King’s somersault cloud. The details of the metaphor didn’t matter, nothing could ruin your day!

Even if it was pouring rain and you were close to being soaked if it wasn’t for your umbrella, your legs were close to freezing from the water that did manage to hit you. None of it was going to ruin today!

Until a pair of demons rushed into the shop you worked at, pushing bookcases and other heavy wooden furniture pieces they could get their hands on then push it to block the door. You could hear pottery shatter from hitting the ground with how haphazardly they went at making their barrier.

You were still standing at the front desk watching this happen, almost frozen from the shock of seeing the demons ignore all other surroundings.

“I told you we shouldn’t have gone in there, Jin,” the blue-skinned demon muttered to him. His giant horns and silver hair were hard not to notice. “We should’ve gone in the one across the street!”

“Well, how was I supposed to know that the kid was working today?!” the orange-skinned demon with similar horns and gold hair argued back. “You’re the one who wanted noodles, Yin!”

The demons both wore black amour, matching black pants, and dark grey straps wrapped around their chests. The metal plates at the center were different, one gold and the other being silver.

You leaned back and saw that the sledgehammer that had been placed behind the desk with you as a recent security measure was resting against one of the drawers. Maybe wait off on that and see where this would go but you also didn't want these demon brothers to make the mess so much worse.

“There a problem?” you asked, gripping the sledgehammer then tugging to get a sense of its weight. You let go of it, it was heavier than you expected but you should be able to use it if push came to shove.

The demon brothers looked at you in surprised, shocked that someone else was here at all.

“What are you doing in here?” the golden demon demanded.

“I work here,” you answered. “Unless you’re paying for all that stuff, put it back!”

The demons looked at each other than at you with disbelief, they laughed at your gall to order them.

“You got no idea on who you’re talking to, do you?” the silver demon taunted.

“The Gold and Silver Demons?” you guessed.

“How did you-?!”

“Jin and Yin, kind of obvious,” you answered. It was literally in their names.

You also remembered them acting as commentators for the annual Great Wall Race a few months ago but that didn’t seem necessary to bring up.

“Yeah, well,” Yin disregarded. “We’re still all powerful compared to you!”

“They got some confidence if they think they can boss us around,” Jin said with a snide tone.

Okay, time to get the sledgehammer, you thought as you grabbed the handle and brought it up so you could hold it with both hands.

“Hey,” you started out with. Your voice almost dead of any joy despite how you planned today to go. “I was hoping to have a good day.”

The brothers stared at the weighted weapon in your hands with concern.

“Get out of my store and we can both still have that,” you warned. Sure, it wasn’t actually your store but you decided to ignore semantics for that right now.

Despite the on edge looks they had from the sledgehammer, the demon brothers were quick to brush it off.

You rushed them, swinging the hammer and using its brute force to push them away from the handmade furniture.

It was almost comical how they shot across them room, rolling on the wood floor until they hit a wall. Their heads swayed as they tried to recover and regain their balance.

With a shake of their heads, they recomposed and saw you walking their way.

“There’s a back door if you’re interested,” you offered with a flat tone.

Their words hung in the air as they seemed to be thinking of a proper response until they gave each other a look and yelled in unison. “Smoke bomb!”

Your eyes shut so nothing would get in them, the hammer in your hands closer to your body and ready for an attack. Nothing came though.

You squinted your eyes open when you heard shuffling and scrapping sounds against the floor, there you saw the Gold and Silver Demons pushing the makeshift barrier they had just made and try to get out.

“Are you kidding?! Even the civilians can hold their own now?!” Yin yelled at his brother.

“Just keep moving!” Jin yelled back as he pushed the bookcase out of the way.

The deafening sound of rain drowned out their voices once the door opened, the two demons bailed and left you with a confused expression on what had happened.

You were actually expecting there to be a fight, and not one that you would win by forfeit. Or even win at all, you were ready to just see how far you could have gotten with that hammer and a lack interest in dealing with more immortal nonsense.

There’s no way those were the same demons from the stories you heard growing up, could it?

You stared as the droplets slide on your window of your room, having them in imaginary races with one another and placing more confidence in one drop over the other.

Part of you wished you spent the following day with Sun Wukong instead of having to go to work and deal with whatever that was, but that was becoming more of the norm in the city. Part of you considered moving to avoid that altogether.

You let out a sigh as you stretched onto your bed and had the white noise lull you to sleep.

A thought that entered your head was you wished that Wukong had a phone so you could message him even when away. Maybe you could ask that the next time you'd see him.

You almost laughed at the idea of an ancient being with a smart phone but this was the same one you were streaming marathons with.

And one where kissing might become habit between you two, another thought interjected.

You were quick to hide your reddening face behind a pillow from no one but yourself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm kind of tempted to write smut but part of me want to put it as somewhat separate collection or something so that this fic can stay age appropriate if that makes sense.


	11. Sick Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I should probably just add slice of life to the tag at this point.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back from writing some of the Macaque fic!

Your head hurt. It hurt when you heard your alarm go off, it hurt when the sun hit your face, it hurt when you sat up to try to start the day. You would have fallen back asleep but the pressure that piled up in your head demanded otherwise.

You tried to take in a deep breath of air but nothing happened, just the sound of clogged nostrils took over.

 _Great, just great._ You had to be sick, and on your weekend too.

A hand pressed against the wall to hold you up right. You struggled to go grab an aspirin from the medicine cabinet in your bathroom. Your head was swimming while the rest of your body tried to keep balance.

Hopefully the medicine would get rid of the headache as soon as possible. You did need something to help clear your sinuses.

Noodles seem like a good idea, maybe asking for something like bell peppers would help clear it up while you filled up on all the vegetables and proteins. There was noodle shop not to far from you. Definitely didn’t want to walk for it though.

They did orders by phone, online should be just as likely. Hopefully they’re quick to deliver.

The knock at the door felt like it was being beat against your skull.

“I’m coming,” you muttered as you opened the door to be greeted by a boy in a plain white t-shirt with a dress shirt with the Pigsy's Noodles logo on the pocket over it (There was a stain too, you noticed.) and a red bandana wrapped over his forehead. “What is it?”

“Pigsy’s Noodles,” the boy answered, his smiled dropped as he caught notice of your tired state. “Are you okay?”

“Just under the weather,” you told him, taking the bag he had ready and checking to see if your order was right. Noodles, vegetables, protein, extra peppers to clear your nose. Yep, all there.

You looked back at him, tilting your head to figure out where you had seen him before.

“Everything okay?” he asked. “I’m sure I didn’t grab the wrong order.”

“No, the order is right,” you corrected. “I’m just pretty sure that I’ve seen you before.”

“Maybe,” the boy answered. “I do deliver noodles all across the city.”

“No, no, that’s not it,” you said as you squinted to get a better look on the details of his face.

The moment the boy flashed a somewhat awkward smile, something clicked in your head.

“Wait, are you MK?”

“Uh, yeah,” he smiled, the awkward expression turned to surprise. “How’d you know my name?”

You were trying to think of something to say without bringing in his mentor. “You were in that race a few months ago, there’s a picture of you trying to eat the trophy on the Great Wall.”

“Oh, right,” he muttered, his hand going scratching the back of his head in embarrassment. “Kind of wish people forgot about that.”

“It was a cool race,” you reassured. “Better you won than the Demon Bull Family.”

“That is true,” he smiled, a little happier from the compliment.

You smiled back.

“Anyway, thanks for the food,” you told him, giving a small wave goodbye then closing the door.

You took a moment to take in the slight scent of the cooked food, smile growing that you could already feel your sinuses clearing.

After you started digging in, another knock entered your home. It had a different sound that you couldn’t quite place, it was thinner if it made sense. This wasn’t the sound of knocking on wood.

The sound rang through your home again, it sounded like glass. It couldn’t come from your windows unless it was a persistent bird, so the balcony door felt like the best bet.

A falcon tapped on the glass with its beak, pausing now and again to crane its neck and look inside your home. It hopped and flapped its wings once it saw you make your way toward the door.

You questioned opening the sliding door until you saw a second tail swing with the feathers. Confusion didn’t completely cover your face, the 72 transformations he could pull was something you were most definitely familiar with.

You opened the door then crouched down, sitting on your haunches while holding your bowl of noodles as you looked the bird in the eye. “I thought you told me you didn’t remember much of dropping me home, Wukong.”

The bird form of the Monkey King looked away from that, made sense since you had caught him in something of a lie. “Yeah, I remember, like all of it.”

The Monkey King flashed back into his true form, copying your pose of squatting down to your eye level.

Taking in a deep breath you soothe the desire to yell at him for lying about the kiss you gave his copy. (Nice to know those peppers were clearing things up.) You made a poor attempt at a scowl, your headache wasn’t as bad as it was at the start of the day but it still hurt.

“Where’ve you been?” the Monkey King asked you. “I thought you’d be at the temple, like, hours ago.”

“I’m sick,” the clogged tone and strained voice ironically clear to hear.

“Like how bad?”

“Like ‘I don’t want to go anywhere’ bad.”

“Huh,” his tone was clear that he couldn’t quite relate. “Would you still be in the mood to watch-?”

“I don’t think I’ll be all there mentally,” you cut off. Your scowl looking closer to disappointment as you stood up. “I’m really sorry.”

"We can still hang out," he offered, jumping back up and standing straight.

“That’s nice,” you admitted. “But honestly, I just want to finish my food and sleep after that.”

“That’s fine,” Wukong told you. “We can watch something while you eat.”

You weren’t in the mood to argue and just shrugged in agreement. “Alright.”

As you let the Monkey King into your home, you were certain his tail was swinging with a bit more energy.

You sat on your bed with Wukong close to your side and your laptop playing a movie you had seen a million times. You slowly ate your noodles, getting tired as every bite seemed to fill you and make your body feel heavy.

Sun Wukong seemed to radiate a heat akin to a thick blanket, him being so close probably had something to do with it. You took the risk of falling asleep and leaned against his shoulder as a means to stay up right.

“You still doing okay?” he asked, watching you blink a little harder than necessary.

“Yeah, just,” you were trying to think of a word but you were drawing blanks. “Let’s just keep watching.”

“‘Kay,” he answered as his arm wrapped around you to hold you up with a bit more ease.

“Thanks,” you mumbled, letting your eyes rest for a moment. You knew what scene was coming next, you would spend the energy on the climatic battle instead.

You couldn’t remember finishing the movie after that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I'll work on this for my next few days off then after I'm gonna stick to publishing on my days off only. Including the Macaque fic, so it may not be daily updates, but they'll be consistent.


	12. Morning After

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Who wants to bet the Monkey King left once you fell asleep? Because I don't for a second.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm never certain if I can ever get the right mix of sweet and awkward, or if the relationship is even believable. Doesn't stop me from trying.

A warm blanket in a cold morning felt like absolute heaven, you never wanted to leave the comforting heat that wrapped around you. Despite feeling the day wake you up, you still wanted to relax in the sea of cloth. You curled into the comforter, as if to encircle the source of the heat.

Something hard pressed against your forehead, like worn leather over beaten metal. Your eyes opened wide from the contact and you pulled the blanket off your face to reveal Sun Wukong the Monkey King in your bed with you. That wasn’t all that you noticed.

His arms were wrapped around you, his tail hugging your waist. He looked content with each breath he took, a soft smile becoming more noticeable as you leaned closer to get up.

The Monkey King may have felt your movements as he woke up soon after.

“Hey there,” he greeted, the tip of his fang peeking in his smile.

You felt your face grow warm, not certain if you should smile back but something made the corners of your mouth curl upward. “Um, hey.”

A laugh could be heard under his breath as he pushed himself up from the bed. He crossed his legs and leaned forward with his hand propping his head. “You looked like you slept well.”

You looked away from him as you got up, legs already hanging over the edge of your bed and ready to start the day. “Like you’re one to talk, you didn’t need to stay the night, you know.”

You took in a deep breath, nice to know you were already doing much better than yesterday.

“If you say so,” the Monkey King told you. “But I’m pretty sure you would have wanted me to stay.”

“And what makes you say that?” you ask, standing up to stretch properly.

The Monkey King hopped off your bed, then balancing on his tail with his legs crisscross in the air. “I’d say it’s because you have something of a crush on me.”

You gave a pout at that, Wukong now in front of you with a cheeky grin from his claim.

“You really want to push it so I don’t have one anymore?” you threatened as you crossed your arms over your chest.

In an instant, your feet were no longer on the ground and you were now placed on the Monkey King’s lap.

“Like I’d let it get that far,” Wukong answered, his smile a bit more smug.

His hands held you steady, arms almost having you in a hug. Despite your face turning red, you managed to keep the unimpressed pout as clear as day.

He inched closer to you, his confident aura chipping at your false annoyance. Wukong gently pressed his lips against your cheek, his hair lightly brushing against your skin and sending a shiver up your spine.

Your eyes squeezed themselves shut as you felt him repeat the motion again and again, you refused to give him the satisfaction of looking at his smug face while he did this to you.

The kisses seem to make their way down your cheek and to your jaw, and you could feel that Wukong wasn't going to stop there. You felt his nose brush your neck, his lips soon doing the same. Your heart seemed to jump up to your throat, your face a brighter red than his scarf.

Your hands grab at the long scarf that wrapped around his neck, ready to push him away if it became too much. Monkey King pulled you closer, you didn’t push him despite the means to do so. Your fingers clutched hard enough for the knuckles to grow pale.

Each of the soft pecks on your neck became accompanied with a nuzzle. You could feel his hands run up and down your back, pressing gently against your clothes to feel the warm skin underneath.

You held in a soft whine, a hum came from the Monkey King as he placed his mouth against your neck again. A smile definitely pressed onto your skin.

It was when he nipped your skin, feeling it be pinched between his sharp teeth, you yelped.

Wukong stopped immediately you noticed. “You alright?”

You struggled to open your eyes for a second then looked at him. His face painted with confusion and a hint of concern. You let go of his scarf, fingers aching from the stress they held, you then pressed one of your hands to your face to smother the fire under your skin.

“I’m fine,” is all you could mumble for the moment. “It was just a bit much, I didn’t know that was going to happen.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, just give me more of a warning next time.”

“Next time?” A grin grew on his face from that.

You pulled your hand away from your face to show your slightly shocked expression that _you_ suggested a next time.

“Just forget what I said,” you tried to take back.

“No no no no no, you said it, not me,” Monkey King laughed. “I’ll definitely keep that in mind.”

You looked away from Wukong as he pressed his face against your cheek.

“Just shut up,” you mumbled.

You could hear the light laugh in your ear before he gave another soft peck then pulled away. You looked back at him, a bit surprised he didn’t go straight back to teasing.

He made a glance down at your lap and soon took the hand that was resting on it. His touch being soft like wet clay, despite the claw-like nails that gently grazed your skin. His smile becoming soft as he brushed the back of your hand with his thumb.

You leaned closer to Wukong, now being the one confused on his expression. “Something up?”

“Nothing,” he answered.

You pressed your forehead against his own, looking him straight in the eyes. “You sure?”

“Yeah,” he confirmed, giving a livelier smile.

“Alright,” you let off before pressing your lips against his own, just a little harder than when he kissed your neck. A smile grew as you felt one of his hands press on your cheek to hold you still to make the moment last just a bit longer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now what should I have happen next? (Yes, I am asking for ideas.)


	13. Cheeky Monkey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Why do you only hang out at the temple?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bleh, I'm a little late on posting, oh well.

Why were you so nervous? You had kissed his stupid, smug face a few times already, but holding his hand was crossing the line apparently!

All you could do right now was hug a throw pillow as the two of you watched another season of Monkey King: The Animated Series. You made a quick glance at his hand here and there, during the show’s slower paced moments specifically.

It wasn’t until a baby monkey jumped onto your shoulder you almost snapped from the self-imposed pressure. A grunt escaped as you tried to brush the monkey off you, they decided to make their way to your leg and use it as a pillow.

“You okay?” Wukong asked. “You seem agitated.”

“I just got some stuff on my mind,” is all you admitted, one of your hands now cupping your cheek in thought.

All you had to do was reach out and grab but your body refused to move.

“Work taking you out?” Wukong questioned as he brought a bag of chips your way with his tail.

“I wish it was only that,” you answered, now thinking of all the orders that have been overworking the shop for the past few weeks. A lot of doors, walls, floors, and roofs, (just close to whole buildings really,) were getting destroyed in all the battles that happened throughout the city. There was even a recent partnership with a construction crew from how much went on.

Just, so much work.

You were close to sighing and groaning from the thought that it would only be a matter of time before your place got caught in the crossfire. It might be easier to move than rebuild if it came to that.

You could handle it though, it was something that wasn’t as finicky as emotions and changing relationships. Just math and money, which were its own issue at times.

You finally noticed the bag of chips he had waved near your face, you shook your head no.

“What’s bothering you then?” Wukong asking again, tossing a chip into his mouth.

“Nothing much,” you muttered. “Been thinking about moving honestly.”

It sounded like he choked on his chip at that.

“What?!” he managed to say through a cough. He sounded way more distressed than you would have expected, his shocked expression definitely added to it.

“It’s just a thought,” you tried to play off, leaning back against the couch. “There’s, like, so much going on and with all those fights and battles going on in the city and I don’t think my place is going to last that long.”

The Monkey King’s tail seemed to flick from side to side as he brought his curled hand to his chin, he looked caught up in a thought.

“You think of something?” You asked back.

“Worse comes to worst,” Wukong started with, “you can stay here at the temple if that happens.”

You blinked, not certain what to say.

“I’m not going to be your live-in maid,” the words came out with almost no thought.

“What? No!”

You laughed. “I know, I know. I’m just messing with you.”

Wukong chuckled with a shake of his head, giving you a light push against the shoulder for good measure.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” you told him, your arms finally letting go of the pillow then started to stretch up and out to your sides. “Definitely not a bad place you got here.”

A different thought soon entered your head after that.

“What’s Flower Fruit Mountain like?” you then asked.

“I’d say it’s pretty nice,” Wukong played off.

You gave him a flat look, obviously wanting to know more than just what you’ve read from stories.

“Could I come over sometime?”

The back of your mind was screaming, why are you asking this? The temple you two hanged out at was much different from actually going to his home.

“I mean, sure,” he answered. His hand went to his mouth as he had another thought. “It’s been a couple centuries since any visitors came over, well, not including MK for his training and all.”

“Am I going to have to get there myself or can I ask for a lift?” you questioned. “Because I don’t think I’m going to make it passed the Flaming Mountains.”

You saw the Monkey King smile from the thought of you trying to make your way to his place. “I mean, whatever happened to it being the journey and not the destination?”

“I’d like to not die in this decade or even the next honestly,” you snarked.

He laughed, his smile getting wider. “Okay, okay, I’ll take you there myself.”

You smiled back with a light laugh. Your mind started buzzing of what it looked like, wondering if you could take any pictures to commemorate seeing such a rare sight. The Water Curtain Cave of Flower Fruit Mountain, the temple inside, just the thought of what the view could be like filled you with delight.

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh, I, wow” you were starting to struggle with what to say from your excitement. “Like thank you, like I could kiss you for that.”

Your brain slammed on the breaks after that. WHY DID YOU SAY THAT?!

“Well, why don’t you?” Wukong getting in your face with a smug look.

You could feel your face grow warm and mouth went dry. You didn’t even take a breath as you grabbed the sides of his face and pressed your lips against his own, feeling his smile against your mouth as his fingers laced the hair at the back of your head.

You pulled back a moment later, your face red and filled with anger at yourself that you could kiss his smug face with no hesitation but still couldn’t reach out to hold his hand in your own.

Looking at him, you wondered if the phrase cheeky monkey originated from the Monkey King himself.

“You are _so_ lucky I like you,” you told him, then giving a quick peck to his cheek.

“You sure I shouldn’t be the one saying that?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back and I am going back to bed at that!


	14. The New Star of Flower Fruit Mountain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I wanna see if I can make people sad

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a hint on who also shows up considering the chapter name

Phone: Charged! Battery pack: Also charged! Snacks: Secured! You smiled at the confirmed contents of your backpack, zipping it up and tossing it over your shoulder.

You quickly zipped up your jacket just before you opened the door to your balcony, a cold wind practically slapping you in the face. A shudder came about but hopefully you wouldn’t have to wait too long for Wukong to get here.

You looked up to see a pale yellow streak come across the sky above, it went against the wind and even began to circle its way back.

Tentatively you held onto the bracket of your balcony, bringing your foot on top of it then the other. You took in a deep breath, close to fearing the worst for putting this much trust in the Monkey King.

You took in another deep breath, eyes closing so you wouldn’t have to acknowledge what you were about to do then jumped.

Not even a second later, arms wrapped around you as the wind roared in your ears.

“I got ya,” Wukong assured, it was almost impossible to hear though.

You let out a huge breath of relief, a smile growing as you opened your eyes by a sliver to see the world almost blur. You could turn your head just a bit and look at the Monkey King, he glanced at you with a smirk before focusing on the skyline ahead.

Clouds rested at Flower Fruit Mountain, trees and foliage decorated the sides of the smaller mountains surrounding it, waterfalls pouring out and to the ocean ahead. Your mouth was just agape at the site, you wanted to take a picture but you worried that if you turned away for even a moment it would vanish like a mirage.

“Impressed?” Monkey King asked, a smile could almost be heard in his tone.

You could only nod, trying your best to get your camera app out without having to look at your phone. You tucked your phone back in your pocket the moment you felt the urge to flick your eyes down to be certain.

“I can’t believe you live here,” you told him, finally take the risk to look away and turn to him. The corners of your mouth curling up as you quickly looked back at the view.

“Consider yourself honored to be one of the few humans to even see this place,” Wukong told you, his grip on you getting a little tighter before jumping off his somersault cloud then landing on the sandy beach.

You struggled to get back on your feet from that, holding Wukong’s shoulders to keep steady until you found your balance.

“Trust me, I’m definitely feeling honored right now,” you answered.

Wukong gave you sometime to yourself as you traveled the mountain, taking pictures and enjoying the view. The tribe of monkeys here looked at you in surprise, other than their king’s successor, you were one of the few humans in recent memory to even set foot on the island.

A monkey hopped onto your shoulder to look at the phone screen with you, the view of Flower Fruit Mountains’ spring that filled through a neighboring waterfall. The monkey soon turned their attention to your backpack, pointing at it with soft coos.

“You want a snack?” to which it jumped off you and started to jump up and down in excitement on the dirt and rocks.

You quickly looked through your bag and brought out a bag of peach chips, the monkey snatched it out of your hand and immediately ran with it. You couldn’t even get mad over that, a laugh just left as your hand went to scratch the back of your head.

In time you came across a cave that lead to a staircase with a small temple at the top, before it reached that there was a fire pit under a giant bronze pot and training gear scattered around the landing. You weren’t expecting Wukong to have such a humble abode.

_“Ahhhhh!”_

A scream came from the skylight, something crashing onto the hard ground below. Your eyes went wide as the newly formed crater held the body of a boy in a bright yellow jacket with a Monkey King logo on the back. You had a suspicion on who this was but it didn’t stop you from going down the steps and checking on his status.

“You okay there, kid?” You asked as the boy miraculously sat back up, shaking his head to regain his nerves.

“Uh, yeah,” MK answered, tousling his dark brown hair to get rid of any dirt caught in it. He paused once he noticed that you were definitely not one of the many monkeys on the island and looked at you in confusion. “Wait, am I back in the city?”

“Nope,” you answered as you brought your hand over to pull him back to his feet. “Still on Flower Fruit Mountain.”

“Wait, then how are you-?”

“I was invited,” you told him.

There were gears turning in his head but you didn’t know what conclusion he was coming to. “Are you Guanyin?”

“What? No!”

“Queen Mother of the West?” MK asked again.

“Nope!” You answered again with a shake of the head.

MK inched a bit closer to you, hand curled over his mouth in thought, it soon snapping into a point after. “Nezha, the Third Lotus Prince!”

“Do I look like a kid to you?” You almost snapped. “Look I might be older than you but not that old!”

“They’re not any of those guys, Kid,” Wukong told MK as he fell to the earth with a surprising amount of grace.

“Who are they then?” MK asked the Monkey King before looking at you for the answer.

You raised your hand in a wave and gave your name.

“Human, by the way,” you felt the need to mention.

“What?” That took MK more by surprise than anything else.

“I can be friends with humans, you know,” Wukong told him

Something about that didn’t sit well with you. You could feel your smile drop just a bit.

“I wasn’t saying-” MK switched gears then looked at you with a smile. “I’m MK by the way!”

“We’ve met,” you said, taking his hand for a shake. “You actually delivered noodles to my place a while ago.”

“I did?” He questioned. “I deliver noodles, like, everywhere so I’m sorry if I can’t-”

“It’s nothing,” you reassured with a laugh. “I totally understand.”

You glanced at the Monkey King who seemed happy that you two seemed to be getting along, your expression towards him was a bit more distant though.

“If you’d told me you were doing training today, I would have asked to come on a different day,” you told Wukong.

“Yeah, it kind of slipped my mind,” the Monkey King admitted, his smile baring teeth.

“Whatever,” you replied with an over exhausted sigh, now walking away to see more of what the mountain had to offer. “You guys have fun with your training.”

You gave a wave goodbye as you made your way outside. The moment warm sunlight hit your face you could feel your expression contort. It just hurt.

You took a seat on a rock where there was more than enough shade to relax and be alone with your thoughts. Well except for the monkey holding a familiar bag, it once held peach chips but your can tell those were now long gone and the monkey filled it something else.

“Nice to see you again,” you told it, leaning forward to take another breath. “Were the chips good?”

The monkey began to chatter and bounce after that, you guessed this was their way of saying yes. The monkey soon rummaged through the shiny bag in its hands and brought out a peach.

“That’s nice,” you said, glancing away a moment later.

The monkey cooed at you, placing the peach on your lap almost like it was an offering.

You made a face, not certain how to respond, pointing at the peach then at you. “You sure?”

The monkey hopped again, as if to say yes.

You brought to peach close to your face, a soft, sweet scent coming from it. Your teeth pressed into the fuzzy skin as you took a cautious bite. Something about the taste filled you with warmth, like it had made nostalgia into a flavor.

You took another bite then another, you wanted to say that something about it brought the tears that pricked your eyes but you knew that wasn’t it. You could only wipe it away with the back of your hand as you finished the fresh fruit.

The monkey looked at your pained expression in confusion, you brought a hand over to them and gave a soft pat. “It’s nothing,” you assured.

You were nothing, nothing but a friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title is from a translated lyric from the Cantonese cover of Monkie Kid


	15. Honest Talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Dating is easy" - No one

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What classifies as a slow burn? Because I wonder if this counts or not. I have no experience with even reading slow burns so I have no clue.

You skimmed through the pictures saved on your phone; from the temple you regularly visited to see the Monkey King to the legendary Flower Fruit Mountain. A small huff escaped through your nose, you were hoping looking through your phone would ease your mood but it didn’t help at all.

You brought your knees up to your head and buried yourself to hide away from the rest of the world.

You wanted to be angry at him, you wanted to yell at him, you wanted to be more than a friend like he said you were.

But, you never truly discussed it with him. You would just let yourself enjoy and share the warm, pleasant feelings he brought out. Only saying something would continue in the future but never labeling it. Could you really be mad at him for not saying it was anything else?

Even if you could be more, what would that even mean? Forget about him being a mystical being of unimaginable power, just him never aging while you would eventually be less than dust was an overwhelming thought in itself.

Your head felt like it was being crushed at your temples, your chest ready to collapse from the weight of the idea. Hurt was all you could describe it, and you wanted it to stop.

“You okay?” a familiar voice asked.

The closest thing to a response you gave was your fingers tightening on your jacket sleeves.

The Monkey King let out a soft sigh with that before sitting next to you.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

You managed to pull your head up to look ahead, your gaze avoiding the Monkey King. “Do you even know what _it_ is?”

“This what I said about you to MK?” the Monkey King asked.

“Friends don’t usually kiss each other or share a bed when spending the night,” you told him, holding back the anger that wanted to choke at your throat. You turned to him, your expression pained but nowhere near as hurt it was hours ago.

“I know.” The Monkey King reached out and placed his hand on your shoulder. “It’s just, I wanted to give you time on what you wanted.”

You said nothing, only gave a glance back at the stream in front of you before looking back at him. The Monkey King took his hand off you after.

“Look, I’m not exactly,” the Monkey King began to explain, a cough coming before his next word, “experienced, in this, so I didn’t know what or when would have been a good time to ask.”

“Seriously?” you asked in disbelief, your fingers setting on your temples before gesturing to the air in front of you. “Do you have any idea how intimidating the idea of dating an immortal is? Let alone asking one?!”

“You could if you weren’t a coward,” the Monkey King told you rather bluntly.

Something about that practically snapped and crushed any fear or anxiety you held.

“Do you think I don’t know that?!” you nearly yelled at him. You hands went to cover your face as if trying to physically keep you together. “It’s just, so much.”

“What do you want to do then?” the Monkey King asked, his tail swaying side to side but still keeping a distance.

You dropped your hands from your face and looked at the Monkey King, you glanced at the ground under him and saw one of his hands resting on the soft grass. You placed your hand on top of his, curling your fingers to touch his palm.

With a deep breath, you looked up at him and stared straight into his golden eyes. “I want to be with you.”

You lean toward him, softly pressing your lips against his own before parting again.

Wukong smiled at that, if you looked hard enough, you were certain that there was a hint of red under the soft maroon coloring on his face. “I’m glad we’re on the same page.”

“So, are we dating?” you asked, wanting to be clear on the matter.

Wukong left out a laugh from that. “Yeah, I think we can say that.”

“Good.” Your smile grew, your hand left his and soon brought both at his scarf to pull him into another kiss. His hands pressed at your cheeks to keep you there for a few moments more.

You would have broke away from him later but the sound of snapping branches caught your attention. You turned to the source and felt that Wukong practically teleported out of your grasp.

In the sky up above, MK wield the Monkey King’s staff and had it aimed at the king in question. The staff extended, going straight for Wukong before he ran onto it and quickly kicked the end to meet the earth below.

A loud crash shook the ground, your hands planted on the ground to keep you steady as you tried to push yourself up.

“You never told me that training was still going on!” You yelled at him, hands cupped around your mouth like a makeshift megaphone.

Even from the great distance, you could swear you saw Wukong smile. “Sorry, couldn’t find the time to mention it!”

“You better win soon then find a way to make it up to me!” You continued to shout, a smile still on your face despite the annoyance. “You stupid monkey!”

MK yelled in the distance as he retracted the staff back and used it to block Wukong’s attacks, their fight making their way back to the main mountain. You couldn’t help keep your smile as you watched him go off to train his successor.

You had seen only small pieces of his power and you knew that what he used to train MK was just a fraction. Wonder in how powerful the Great Sage Equal to Heaven was filled you. Maybe you would be able to see a better example of his powers someday but that didn’t matter right now.

The Handsome Monkey King of the Water Curtain Cave of Flower Fruit Mountain, Sun Wukong, was yours.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, I'm going to bed now. Tomorrow (the 25th) is my birthday so hopefully my work day is an easy one.


	16. Skipping Stone Student

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bit more MK in this chapter, yay!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like I should focus more on the Macaque story considering the difference in number of chapters, but I'm a simp for Sun Wukong and how can I argue with that.

You listened to MK’s story, completely engrossed on how he came across the Monkey King’s staff down to his battle with the Demon Bull King. There were points in the story where you gave Wukong a glare from the fact he let this kid fall in harm’s way when he could have easily changed that.

“So how did you meet Monkey King?” MK questioned after he finished his story.

You paused, trying to think of your first encounter with the Monkey King without having it come of as odd as it was.

“They broke into my temple,” Wukong answered in your stead.

You lightly punched at his arm for that. “Don’t say it like that!”

The Monkey King laughed from the glare you gave as MK stood in confusion.

“Like I didn’t know that he was using it,” you tried to explain. “I thought it was abandoned then there were a bunch of monkeys and it was messy.”

You could feel yourself running a tangent, telling about how you ended up cleaning the place up a bit before the Monkey King showed up and how it ended up leading to your weekly marathons of Monkey King: The Animated Series.

You could feel embarrassment cover your face as you rubbed the back of your head.

“The temple up in the mountains?” MK asked.

“Yeah,” you answered. “You’ve been there before?”

“Delivered noodles there for a focus lesson,” the kid told you.

“Hmm,” you had nothing to really add to that. “So how’d you get here, to Flower Fruit Mountain I mean?”

MK pulled out the staff out of his ear almost as a means of an explanation in itself. “It’s not exactly the easiest way to get here but definitely better than getting blasted to the beach. What about you?”

You pointed with your thumb at the Monkey King, answering with a quick elaboration after. “Somersault Cloud.”

“You never offered to pick me up to Flower Fruit Mountain,” MK quickly told his mentor.

“You never asked,” Wukong defended. “Besides, you have the staff and if you want to learn to use the cloud, we can work on it.”

A smile made its way across your face, something about Wukong talking to his successor warmed your heart. You couldn’t help but enjoy the idea of seeing him train MK and honestly getting to know more of him because of it. In time the conversation switched subjects, from MK’s job as a noodle delivery boy to your quick project on fixing the temple gate.

The sun above soon made its way to the west, the blue sky changing to a soft orange. You were more than ready to get back home as you stood at the cliff with MK and Wukong.

“So how exactly do you get from here to the city?” You questioned, wanting to know how the staff took him from place to place.

“I’ll show you,” MK told you with a smile and his staff in hand. He ran forward, jumping off the cliff and his staff extending to an obscene length then pushing him over the ocean at a breakneck speed.

Wukong picked you up right after, rushing off the cliff and having the somersault cloud appear under his feet not too long after. Your arms wrapped around his neck for a better hold and to get a better look at the Handsome Monkey King himself.

Before you realized it, the two of you had already caught up with MK, watching him use his staff almost like it was a skipping stone. The end of it meeting the skin of the ocean and hitting it at just the right angle to keep going without having to fall into the watery abyss.

You gave a wave to the Monkie Kid that he quickly returned, your smile grew as you looked at Wukong for letting you have this day with him and his successor. Without much thought, you pulled yourself closer to him and pressed your lips against his own.

A second later, a shout came about following a loud splash. Quickly both of you pulled away, noticing MK was no longer racing the somersault cloud but now in the salty sea. It didn’t take long for Wukong to turn around to reach him wadding in the water with a shocked expression.

“You’re dating?!” Was all MK could say.

“Uh, yeah...” Wukong answered, his tone trying to not make this a big deal.

“But you’ve never showed interest in anyone before!”

“Some people would argue Tang Sanzang,” you felt the need to mention with an almost chipper tone.

“That doesn’t matter! Were you _ever_ going to tell me about this?!”

“I was hoping you’d figure it out for yourself, but not here honestly. This was a lot faster than I expected,” The Monkey King answered.

“How?! When did this even happen?” MK asked.

“Between a few weeks ago and today,” you chose to answer.

“You okay, bud?” Wukong worried.

MK's expression was showing a lot of different emotions, you were kind of worried that you may have upset him.

“I’m fine,” he told you, his voice starting to shake from the cold water. “It’s- It’s just a lot.”

“Alright,” you mumbled. Now starting to worry about how long this kid could last in the freezing water. “You gonna get him out or what?”

“Just give me a second, and don’t get mad at me for this,” Wukong answered.

“Mad about what?” You were about to ask, the Monkey King threw you into the sky before you finished the question.

The Monkey King quickly used your time in the air to pluck MK out of the water and practically throw him across the ocean in hopes to get him back in the groove of skimming the sea and back to the city.

You almost wanted to scream in the open sky but you were also mesmerized by the soft changes of color that the sunset lay out for the whole world. Wukong quickly had you back in his arms after, your own wrapping around his neck and pulling him close so he could hear you despite the loud wind.

“Give me a better warning next time,” you told him. Your tone was closer to saying “All of heaven struggled nearly 50 days trying to kill you, but if you do that again, I will only need a minute.”

The Great Sage Equal to Heaven only laughed at the empty threat, his smile pressed against your cheek as he reassured that he’d keep that in mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh yeah, I'm also moving! (IRL, I mean) A little nervous but still super excited!


	17. Weekly Hangout

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh dang, has it really been a week since I last updated? Time to change that!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bleh, headache...

You just wanted to grab some food for your weekly marathon with Wukong. Maybe some noodles, a couple cheese teas, not a close encounter with a demon with a fiery attitude and a hot red car to match.

The only reason it wasn’t a full-on collision was because something practically plucked you off the ground and into the sky.

“You okay?” the Monkey King’s voice at your ear and going against the blasts of wind.

“Wukong, what are you doing here?!” You asked back, arms now hugging around his form as you registered that he was using his somersault cloud to get you out of danger. Your sight soon setting behind him and quickly scanning for any oncoming danger.

“I gotta keep an eye on the kid’s progress somehow,” Wukong explained, the shifting scene soon settling as he made a stop on top of a nearby building.

“Why don’t you go help him?” You asked, feet now on the roof as you turned to see the fight break out a few streets away.

Wukong’s tail shifted side to side at that. “This is his fight, he can handle it,” his tone more confident than dismissive.

Your mouth made a thin line at that, you barely knew the kid and only met MK a handful of times, but you felt a need to know he was going to be okay. “Are you sure?”

“Positive,” Wukong confirmed. “He’s taken on this guy a bunch of times and always comes out on top.”

You squinted at the distance, seeing flames barely lick the tops of buildings. “So which demon is this one?”

“Red Son,” he answered.

The name came back to you, another contender of the Great Wall race. “The Demon Bull King’s kid?”

“Very same,” the Monkey King told you, taking a sip of a cheese tea.

You looked back at your bag in confusion to see he had managed to swipe the drink with you none the wiser. “Hey, that was for later!”

Wukong gave a pleased smirk before pulling the drink away. He knew you weren’t going to stay or even be mad at him for something this small.

“I’ll make it up to you,” he told you, placing a small peck on your cheek before leaving to see how MK was faring. “Promise!”

The tips of your fingers softly pressed where he kissed you, cherishing the feeling right before you realized that you had absolutely no idea where you were. A quick curse left your lips as you searched the map on your phone to answer the question of where the Monkey King left you.

You glanced up at the sky on occasion, looking out for the Monkey King just in case. As far as you knew, the battle between MK and Red Son was done. The damage on the buildings told you that your weekend may end earlier than you would like. A soft huff left from the thought, might as well enjoy what you could then.

Fingers held onto the bag of food, a little lighter from Wukong making off with one of the cheese teas. Your free hand went to your phone to check the time. Still early enough to get in maybe a third of a season done if you were up to it.

You kept a move on, making your way home to grab your bike and start the trek to the Monkey King’s sacred temple.

You had your arms wrapped around the Monkey King, face pressed against his chest and listening to the soft heartbeat underneath thanks to him taking off the plate of armor for once. Your eyes were locked on the TV and enjoying the show.

Wukong held you in a hug, one of his hands pressed against your back while the other almost brushed through the top of your head. You gave a soft hum from it on occasion to let him know it felt nice.

A thought popped back in your head as you glanced at the limp bag that once held your food.

“So how were you going to make it up to me?” you asked.

The twitch in his tail told you this caught him by surprise, only for a moment, before it went back to its lazy swaying. “You wanna stay the night?” Wukong offered.

Your eyelids started feeling heavy with the idea of sleep, a yawn coming out in hopes that the stretch would wake you up a bit. “Sounds nice, maybe,” you answered.

“Maybe?”

“I still have a job you know.”

“Isn’t it your weekend?” Wukong questioned.

“Didn’t your successor cause property damage in that fight?” you asked back.

“That bad?”

“Depends if I get a text from work,” you answered. “My job isn’t that involved but you never know.”

A hum came from the Monkey King, he brushed a lock of hair behind your ear to which you moved closer to him.

Another thought entered your head.

“Do you have a phone?”

“No, but I got an email address,” Wukong told you.

That made you bolt right up, sitting on his lap as you looked at him in wide eyed confusion.

“You have a what?”

“Email,” the Monkey King repeated. “My laptop is right there.”

Your line of sight followed his finger, looking at the shut laptop that was right under his coffee table.

“Huh,” is all you could say for that brief moment. “Does anyone else have it?”

“My lawyer,” Wukong answered.

“Why would you need a-?” A list of the Monkey King’s fights, tantrums, and pranks entered your head before you finished the sentence. “Never mind, that checks out.”

That got a laugh out of Wukong for some reason. “Hey, I’m not _that_ bad!”

“No no no,” you told him, setting yourself back down to lay on top of him. “You’re _much_ worse.”

“I’d say I’ve gotten better these last few centuries,” Wukong bragged.

“Or you’ve gotten better at not getting caught,” you considered.

A small huff left him from that, like he knew you placed him in a corner on that. He sat up, pushing you back and letting you sit on his lap.

“Well, if there’s one thing I’m glad I didn’t get caught for,” he said softly, almost whispering in your ear. “It’s that I found a mortal more eye catching than anything heaven would have to offer.”

A gulp could be heard in your throat from that, blood rushing to your face from his claim.

No thoughts entered your head, your hand went to his face to push him away but he dodged it and pulled you closer. Your mouth made itself into a thin line, holding in the desire to yell at him to stop trying to embarrass you with highly unnecessary compliments.

He pressed a soft kiss to your neck, almost causing you to jolt from the shock.

“You know,” Wukong said with a smug tone, “you might be even sweeter than the immortal peaches.”

You moved so you could place your head against his shoulder, arms wrapping at his neck so he couldn’t sneak in another kiss as easily. “Oh my god, shut up.”

He could easily hear that you were flustered, his arms holding you in the hug a bit longer before pushing you back to look at him with his smug expression. “Make me.”

You cupped his face, the pads of your thumbs feeling where the fur and skin met, then pulled him close to stop him from talking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Maybe there's smut after this, I don't know. I'll have it in a different fic if that's the case.


	18. Temple Time

Soft and warm, a gentle rhythm, the distinct smell of peaches. These were what woke you up to a new day. As nice as they were, you weren’t quite ready to be awake just yet.

You buried your face into the pillow, a blanket pulling over to hide the morning light. Arms pulled you close then wrapped around, a hum coming from the owner not too long after.

As comforting the affection was, it only woke you up more. A groan left as you stretched to bring feeling to your body, the Monkey King’s arms were still wrapped around your waist.

His hold tightened, tail soon pressed against your skin as his chin rest atop your head. None of this stopped you from getting up to take on the new day, but it sure brought your progress to a snail’s pace.

“Wukong,” you called as your fingers brushed through his brown fur. “I need to get up.”

The Monkey King took his sweet time to open his eyes, a moment passed before he blinked and set his sights on you.

“Do you though?” His voice almost as soft and warm as the bed, had he not said it with a slightly annoyed tone.

“Yes,” you assured, pushing yourself up but still sitting next to him once he loosened his grip.

You brought your hand to your head for a quick scratch as you scanned Wukong’s bedroom, it was somewhat bare with only the bed, a closet, and a bookcase. Not much else, but then again, this wasn’t his home, only an old temple under his name.

“What was this for?” you asked. “The temple, I mean.”

The Monkey King was ready to fall back asleep, one eye opened to look at you to show his attention. The eye soon shut again but he did answer the question. “The usual; house monks, place for prayers, held a festival and some ceremonies here and there.”

“Why doesn’t it still do all that now?” you thought aloud.

It was still in pretty good condition, it didn’t hurt that you did small projects around the place like refurbishing walls and pillars with the Monkey King’s help.

“Another temple was built in the village, easier to get to and I think they moved to that one, I don’t know, it was like a century ago,” Wukong mumbled at the end against the pillow.

“So, what do _you_ use it for?” you questioned.

“Blow off steam, get away from the world, that kind of stuff,” he told you in a series of mumbles. “Definitely doesn’t hold my proudest moments. More of a shame temple sometimes if you ask me.”

A pillow dropped then smacked him in the face not long after that.

He jolted up with an alert and confused expression, his mouth opened to say something but you spoke first.

“Shame temple?”

“Not with you,” he quickly added after. “You already knew where this place was anyway.”

You still gave an unamused look from that, the glare then directed to an empty wall instead of Wukong. A light laugh came out with a shake of your head. “You couldn’t pick a different name for it?”

Wukong stared at your smile for a moment which he then returned, along with a tight hug to bring you close to him once more. “Well I’m sorry but ‘The Temple of the Handsome Monkey King of the Water Curtain Cave of Flower Fruit Mountain, Sun Wukong’ was a bit of a mouthful.”

“I thought you were known for your wit!” You practically laughed when his fur tickled your skin. “Can’t you name it something else?”

“What if I named it after you?” he suggested, his chin resting on top of your head as he pulled you to sit on his lap.

“Dumb,” you quickly shot down, still a heat colored your cheeks. “Embarrassing, really.”

“Well, now I _have_ to name it that,” Wukong ribbed.

“Do that and I will stop visiting,” you threatened despite the smile across your face.

“Fine, fine,” Wukong agreed, some annoyance easy to hear in his tone.

You tried to think of a better name for the temple, a thought popped up in your head not long after. “What about Táozi?”

Wukong’s tail flicked from the suggestion. “Why that?”

“Peaches do seem to be a favorite of yours,” you explained. “Feels like a good fit.”

The Monkey King hummed as he considered it, his theft of the immortal peaches, the dried slices of fruit he consistently snacked on, even the faint scent that came off his fur.

“Not a bad idea,” Wukong told you. “Temple of Táozi.”

It had a decent ring to it now that the words hung in the air.

The corner of your mouth turned up from that, you pulled away from just a bit so you could look at him properly. “So it’s settled, Táozi Temple.”

“I didn’t say it was settled,” Wukong told you. His mouth shut into a thin line after a quick kiss to his cheek.

“I figured it was implied,” you said, now crawling off him then swinging your arms over the edge of the bed. You were quick to grab your clothes off the floor, bringing the shirt to your face for a quick sniff. Yeah, still clean.

You were pretty quick to get dressed, it helped that you didn’t have much, just the shirt, pants, and underwear. The Monkey King had much more to work with considering the armor and crown he tend to wear in even casual settings. Seeing him with just his fur was a bit surreal.

“Did you have any plans for today?” Wukong asked as you stretched once getting off the bed.

“There’s no text from work for overtime so I think it’s safe to say I’m free,” you did another scan through your messages to be certain. “Why? You have something in mind?”

“I could take you to Flower Fruit Mountain again, if you want,” he answered as he practically flopped back onto the bed and had his hands behind his head. “And I know that I don’t have a training session with MK today.”

“Maybe,” you mused. “You sure you didn’t just want to go back to the marathon?”

Both of you had gotten _distracted_ to put it lightly.

“Tempting,” Wukong answered, his tail swishing in consideration. “But I figured you want a proper look of the place this time.”

You hummed in agreement. “Wouldn’t be too bad. What about food after though? You’re not exactly near any restaurants or stores.”

“Pretty sure I can figure something out,” Wukong said, he sat himself up once you started making your way towards him. Scooting over the bed until you were back at his side.

Your arms wrapped over his shoulders as you were soon face to face, a soft kiss placed on the tip of his nose.

The Monkey King’s smile widened from it, a fang going over the slightest bit of his bottom lip.

The sound of the bedroom door opening caught both your attention, a sea of monkeys rushing in for their king’s attention. And yours too apparently, considering how some were quick to sit on your legs, jump to your shoulders, and groom through your hair for a snack.

The chatter they made came with no translation but Wukong made it easy to figure out the gist of the conversation. The matters weren’t of urgent business, it was mainly seeing how the monkeys were doing and staying updated on what happened nearby. He was quick to pull what could be considered his children in some sense into tight hugs before they would run off to enjoy their day.

All you could do was smile at Wukong with how he acted with them, happy to see this side of him and hopefully for many more days to come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IDK, I'm just kind of numb right now. I don't have any ideas and lack motivation right now for some reason. Hopefully it won't be long. I'm willing to take requests in a sense, I'll try to do my best to incorporate them in the fic and slowly figure out a plot. I don't want to sound needy or such but if you could tell me what you guys like about this fic, that would probably brighten my day and maybe motivate me to keep going with this story. Anyways, I hope you guys have a Happy New Year!


	19. Baby Talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally back to the Wukong fic

It definitely became something of a habit on visiting Flower Fruit Mountain, enough for the resident monkeys to recognize you and ready to expect snacks. You asked for nothing in return (Why would you?) but they seem to show thanks with whatever they found on hand. (Mainly fruits and flowers, which made sense given the mountain’s name.) It was sweet.

“Do they have names?” You decide to ask the Monkey King after giving a small group of monkeys some dried fruit by the handfuls.

“Huh?” The Monkey King had one of the baby monkeys on his shoulder and let them groom through his hair for bugs.

“The monkeys. Do they have names?”

“Of course they have names. Why wouldn’t they?”

“I can’t talk to monkeys, Wukong,” you reminded him.

“It’s the other way around actually,” he told you.

No reply came, you only gave a confused look at that.

“Sun Xigua,” Wukong spoke. The monkey that was perched on his shoulder stopped combing through his fur and looked at their king attentively. “I’m clean, they could use some help though.”

The monkey cooed at the command then jumped off Wukong and made their way to you. They soon hopped and grabbed onto your side, quickly climbing up your back until they were seated on your shoulders and ready to catch any bugs that could have latched onto you.

The sensation felt a little alien for a moment, the monkeys at the temple would get handsy at times but never acted this thorough.

“Okay, but you’re their king,” you said. “They kind of have to listen to you.”

“Doesn’t mean they won’t understand,” Wukong rebutted.

“Could you teach them to?” You asked. “At least, enough so that if I want to be alone they’ll leave.”

“I mean, sure,” Wukong answered. “But their attention span is kind of like mine, or worse if I’m being completely honest.”

A light laugh came out from that, your hands going up and picking the baby monkey off your shoulders then hold them in your arms. “Well, I didn’t expect you to be the best influence on them.”

The monkey, Xigua, started climbing up to your shoulders once again. Settling back to grooming through your scalp.

“Still worth a shot,” Wukong told you, giving his head a nudge at the baby monkey.

You gave a glance at Xigua before speaking. “Sun Xigua, you can get off now.”

The baby monkey’s tail drooped, looking a little dejected considering the pout they gave. Their hands leaving your hair once again then went to drape their lanky arms over your shoulders.

“Well, it’s close enough,” the Monkey King noted, looking at the baby monkey that began to press their body against the back of your head. You tried your best to glance at Xigua hugging your head but it was a failed effort. “We can definitely work with this.”

After raising a hand up and to your head, Xigua grabbed it with their tiny fingers and brought the palm against the side of their face. Soon hugging it with such a tight grip you were wondering if they would ever let go. It took some time before you were able to get the monkey off your shoulders, then hand, until they settled back into your arms and enjoy being cradled.

In time you both started walking around the mountain, enjoying the view and the company you kept each other. Watching clouds turn pink against the orange sky while the dark blue night trailed back in the east. Hearing the chatter of other monkeys as they swung, ran, and played without a care in the world. There were brief moments the now sleeping monkey in your arms began to stir before you eased them back into slumber, the limp body leaning against you and resting their head on your shoulder.

“You ever thought about being a parent?” Wukong asked you.

Something in your brain short circuit, unable to come up with a response right off the bat. Or at least something straight forward.

“Um, what do you mean by that?”

“I don’t know,” Wukong looked away after that, his hand rubbing the back of his neck before going to his shoulder. “Like, having a kid? Adoption? Just raising someone and taking care of them?”

“Is MK being too much for you?” You joked. “I don’t think I’d be much help, he’s only a couple years younger than me.”

“What? No, I mean,” Wukong started to trip over his own words before getting back on track. “You know what I mean.”

A soft pout came across your face at the thought, the idea sounded nice in theory but it would be so much more complicated in practice. It was another life, but between you and him, there had to be complications on how that’d even work.

“I doubt anything could happen,” you found yourself answering. “You’re some celestial stone monkey demon and I’m definitely not any of those things.” You couldn’t help but glance at the baby monkey in your arms and watch the soft breaths they took while napping. “It’d be nice though.”

A hum of agreement came from Wukong not long after.

“Yeah, I can kind of imagine it looking like you but with a tail,” he added on, a finger lightly scratching at the side of his face from the thought. “I mean, it’s just hypothetical and all that.”

Despite that, a smile still found itself on your lips.

“I could see them with your eyes,” you told him.

He looked back at you from that, the sunset practically giving the gold in his eyes a soft glow.

“Well, I think they’d look better with your nose.”

“If you’re going to get picky on how they look, why don’t you teach them the 72 transformations while you’re at it?"

“I should probably teach MK before them at least,” Wukong thought aloud. A chuckle crept its way in after. “I can’t even imagine MK's reaction if he saw me have a kid of my own. You’d think he’d be happy about it?”

“That, or jealous that he has to deal with _another_ person who wants his mentor’s attention,” you mused.

“You think he’d be jealous?”

“You’d be surprised what a human can hide.”

“Yeah,” the Monkey King agreed. “But that’s what makes them interesting, like you.”

“Surprisingly low standards for the Great Sage Equal to Heaven,” you noted with a snarky tone.

“If I based my standards on someone like me, I would have dated a clone of myself,” Wukong answered. “And gonna be honest, I tried and it was _so_ not worth it.”

Your jaw dropped, your hand went to quickly pick it up and cover your mouth to smother the oncoming laughter. You swear that you could feel your body shake and try to hold it in but it was a lost cause.

Xigua the baby monkey woke up with a confused look, tried to settle back in your arms, then tugged at your shirt to get your attention. You glanced down to see their tiny hand point to the ground. It didn’t take much else to tell you that they wanted to get back on the floor. Gingerly you placed them back on the ground, but not before giving them a small hug for their good behavior.

The baby monkey soon ran off, giving a wave then jumping into the foliage not long after.

“I have to say,” Wukong spoke and took back your attention, “I’m impressed by how much you deal with me. Even I have limits on how much me I can take.”

“Trust me, it was _definitely_ a work in progress,” you admitted to him and gave your arms a good stretch. “No joke, I was questioning if I should still hang out with you after the first marathon.”

“Because you fell asleep on me?” Wukong questioned with a smug grin.

“More like the fact you almost made me puke on your somersault cloud!”

“Fair enough,” he laughed. “But, we’re here now, so you made your decision.”

His hand reached out then took your own, fingers taking the time to interlock and give a gentle squeeze.

“A good one in my opinion if you ask me,” he added as he inched closer. His smile grew as he saw the blush on your face turn bright.

“I don’t know...” you said with a lilted tone. “Maybe there’s still a chance to change my mind.”

The Monkey King quickly dropped your hand then picked you up instead, one arm under your legs while the opposite pressed your back. The suddenness of it all caused you to yelp then grab at his shoulders for your own means of support.

“You sure about that?” Wukong asked, the grin almost coming off as menacing with how much you knew he could tease. “Could you really say no to this face?”

There wasn’t any answer that you could give him without the Monkey King coming out on top, so you went with one that wasn't vocal.

Your hands practically grabbed at the sides of his face and pulled him close for an almost harsh kiss with how much force you placed onto it. A muffled surprised squeak came from him before quickly settling into the affection.

Only when you parted for air, Wukong told you. “Hey, not in front of the kids.”

Confusion took over at that, making you turn to see what was in his line of sight. Several tiny faces peeking out of a sea of greenery, the monkeys soon realizing they were caught in the act then promptly ran off.

“That gonna be a common occurrence?” You had to ask when you looked back at him.

“Depends,” Wukong answered. “You want it to be?”

“I’d prefer it being more private actually.”

A soft hum in agreement came from Wukong not long after. “I’d like that.”

He placed a softer kiss on top, his smile widened to see your blush was still there.

The thought of getting to see that smile again in the early morning reminded you of one of the reasons he brought you over. “Oh yeah, where did you want that breakfast nook you told me about?”

“At one of the caves near that temple,” he answered. You guessed he meant the one with a skylight thanks to chucking his successor though the stone ceiling. “You gotta promise me you won’t be mad when you see it though.”

“Wait, what happened?”

“Exactly how much are you a fan of ancient murals?”

The grip on his face tightened, fingers almost curling in like claws into his hair so he wouldn’t turn away.

“Wukong, what did you do?!”

The Monkey King almost couldn’t help but laugh at the hostile response.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My day/week has been pretty bleh, but I hope that this can help make someone else's day a little better.


	20. Mural

You pinched the bridge of your nose, stopping the anger from flaring out your nostrils. Moonlight covering everything, the stone floor, pillars wrapped in dried vines, thanks to the gaping hole that desecrated the mountain and was framed by a broken wooden gate.

“How old was the mural?” You ask, putting in the effort to relax your jaw and not grit your teeth.

“Couple centuries,” Wukong answered. “400, maybe 500 years old.”

“And you destroyed it,” you muttered under your breath. “Did you have any pictures of it?”

Was there at least something left of this ancient, priceless mural so it wouldn’t be lost to the world?

“Why would I? I saw it everyday, didn’t think about that.”

Taking in a deep breath, your hand left your face then went to your hip. The expression you gave the Monkey King was both annoyed and tired before looking back at the giant hole in the wall, part of you should have expected this.

“Is there anything left of it?”

“Kind of doubt it,” Wukong admitted. “The kid really did a number on it during his training.”

That caught your attention and made you turn to the Monkey King. “Wait, MK did this?”

“Yep,” Wukong confirmed. “I might have had a hand in it, but he actually did most of the damage on this.”

You stared back at the giant hole, mouth agape at the thought that a human not much younger than you was given the power to do this. And this was a mere stepping stone compared to how strong he would become in the future.

“Remind me to never get on his bad side,” you joked. “Anyway, do you think we can salvage it or something? Find whatever pieces we can and try to put it together?”

“Like a puzzle?”

A soft laugh came out from that. “I mean, I guess you could say that.”

“How about we look for the biggest pieces now then get to the rest in the morning?” Wukong suggested as you made your way out the hole to the pile of rubble on the other side. “It’s getting late and I’m pretty sure you’d rather use the sun than your phone’s little flashlight.”

You turned off said flashlight after that, now squatting to get closer to the ground and at least clear off any grime that wasn’t made of stone. “You had plenty of other walls to smash, Wukong. If you picked a blank one we wouldn’t be dealing with this now.”

“Listen, I’ve lived here for centuries, I have a pretty good idea on where the light would hit the mountain and that was the best spot out of everything,” he explained as he soon stepped by your side and picked up a rock the size of your torso with ease, chucking it when there was not even the slightest hint of the mural after. “There a reason you’re worked up about this?”

“It’s just,” you took a breath as the thought began to form. “Unfair, that you have this piece of history that practically no one has seen and it can’t shared in anyway now. And you destroyed it just so you could have a breakfast nook.”

A soft pout came across Wukong’s face while listening to your frustration. “Do you mean just you or...?”

“Everybody, anybody,” you answered, brushing off dirt and dust off the flat stone with the sleeve of your jacket. “I don’t know, I get that you don’t want other humans here, and listen, I am _beyond_ honored to be here, but I kind of wish they could at least have some idea of what was at the mountain.”

The Monkey King made a soft hum at your words, his tail flicking about before he finally got an idea. “I guess that makes sense.”

You patted the remaining dust off your worn leather sleeve then squinted at the flat stone in front of you, seeing faded blue and orange against the gray. It looked like part of a face and maybe hair.

“Found something,” you chirped, Wukong soon at your side then at your level. “What was this mural even of?”

“My old friends,” he answered with a detached tone. “The guys that I went on that whole journey with, pretty sure you know the rest.”

“Oh,” is all you could say for the moment.

You looked away from the stone then to Wukong, his expression looking apathetic but something in his gold eyes held a hint of melancholy over the memories.

“Hey,” you spoke up, his eyes focusing on you after. “If it’s something you’d rather forget or not think about, I’m sorry for bringing it up.”

A soft smile came across his lips from that, his hand reaching out to cup your cheek and let strands of hair be laced between his fingers. “Don’t worry about it, not like you could have known.”

You gave a soft nod to which Wukong pulled his hand away after.

“Do you wanna just turn in for the night?” you asked, getting up to show you weren’t interested in looking through the mural’s remains anymore. Your hand going to the back of your neck then resting on your shoulder after a few rubs. “I mean, we’ve been walking around all day and there was making the plans for the breakfast nook you wanted.”

You could feel yourself going into a tangent, mumbling on how you had spent the day together and mixing in an apology.

“Hey, hey,” Wukong called out to get you out of jumble of words taking over your mind. “It’s okay. And yeah, I can definitely go for some sleep.”

“Alright,” you said, taking his hand into yours. “You okay with just walking or do you want to take your cloud?”

“I don’t have anything planned later so I’m fine with taking my time,” he answered in a cheery voice.

The walk went well, conversation changing from random foods both of you were interested in trying, how MK's training was going, and the small things you could have planned for the breakfast nook. Then the topic of New Year’s came up.

“So what plans did you have in mind?” You asked.

“Not much actually, I promised MK that we’d train that day, but since the temple I picked has a good view for the fireworks, I figured we’d watch them together,” Wukong answered.

“That’s really sweet,” you told him. “I’m glad you get to bond over other stuff.”

“You’re not jealous?” Wukong questioned with a lilted tone.

“I have no problems with you having some bonding time with your student of all things,” you spoke as you hugged one of his arms in a tight squeeze. “As long as I get to spend the night with you after.”

A chuckle left the Monkey King from that. “I’ll definitely keep that in mind. There anything you want to do when I get back from training?”

“Food,” you answered without a hitch. “We can have a huge dinner together at Táozi Temple, marathon more Monkey King, then pass out when we’re nice and full.”

Wukong’s smile widened at the thought. “Well, I know I can’t say no to that.”

“I got a few recipes that I’ve been wanting to share," you told him. “But I rather keep those specifics a surprise.”

“Sounds great,” he agreed, his tail wrapping at your waist as a substitute for the arm that was caught in your grip. “Can’t think of a better way to start the New Year.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have watched the New Year Special (Only half of it has been subbed at the moment) and by god I will make this fic stay canon compliant until it kills me.


	21. New Year

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let's go!

You struggled with carrying everything; your bike for this small journey, the backpack with clothes for the morning after, and at least a small kitchen's worth of food and ingredients. Maybe you were a bit too ambitious on the idea of making a huge dinner for you, Wukong, and the monkeys that would no doubt grab a helping of their own, but the memories that would come with it would be more than worth it.

First thing you did when there was leave the bike at the temple gate (and your shoes at the door), second was having all the food ready in the kitchen, and last was having your backpack rest against the side of the couch. With all this done you could set up and start getting to work.

Some of the monkeys looked at you curiously; it wasn’t like you to come here this early in the day.

“Hey there,” you said with a soft smile as you put some of the more perishable ingredients in the fridge.

A monkey jumped onto the counter, cooing and hopping at some of the food and tools you had out. It was clear they wanted to know what you were doing.

“Making dinner for when Monkey King comes back,” you told them, which was responded with soft chorus of oohs. “Don’t worry, I made sure there’ll be enough food for everyone.”

That got some cheers and chatter, a smile breaking out on your face as some of the monkeys went off now that their curiosity was satisfied.

Only a handful stayed put to watch you make dessert of all things first. You needed to make sure everything set in the fridge and have enough time before hand.

After that you were in getting into the groove of it all, homemade (or would it be temple-made?) noodles with a broth that almost shined like gold, steamed buns stuffed with vegetables, and a platter of fruits ready for the monkeys at any moment.

You checked the time on your phone, the parade probably already started but you might be able to catch up on what happened so far. Quickly you turned on the TV, sat on the couch, and found a broadcast that did the event justice.

It was nice to see all the floats and performers go all out, what felt better was you could enjoy it with a hot cup of tea and not have to deal with a loud crowd that might bump you at random points.

For a moment, you saw an article recommended to you on your phone, about an ancient mural of all things. Your eyes squinted as you read the text: “No one knows where the remnants of this ancient mural came from as the type of rock it belongs to doesn’t match any of neighboring mountains in the area. Truly a mystery for the ages.”

Another flick of your thumb and you saw a picture of the very same stone that you had brushed the dust off with your jacket sleeve.

“Oh, you would pull something like this, Wukong,” you said to yourself, the tone may be a bit annoyed but there was some humor found in it.

The fireworks soon started, making you turn your attention from one screen to another, a smile growing at the thought Wukong would be over sometime after the show. (He didn’t give you the exact details of how long he’d be hanging out with MK, but you didn’t mind as long as he’d be back and in your arms.)

Something happened after, the spider float that had absolutely no reason to be there revealed a quartet of spider demons and a young girl. The self-proclaimed Spider Queen announced her return, her demon minions jumping off into the crowd as the human by her side watched the show.

Spider-like robots began to swarm the city, latching onto the backs of victims then taking their freewill as any color in their eyes glowed into a sickly green and had them stand like puppets on a string. The float transformed, growing bigger and bigger until it began to tower over buildings, screams being the only sounds that could be heard as fireworks died.

Then the transmission cut to nothing.

Your eyes were wide open by the horror show, quickly you started going through your phone to see what was happening. What gave you the best results was looking up the city's name “Wan Qian Cheng” and seeing people scream and plead for safety, blurry photos on what and where people were, and short videos of what took place.

Dread made you keep scrolling for who knows how long, it wasn’t until one of the monkeys couldn’t stand your distress and slapped the phone out of your hand. You almost were mad at the monkey from the shock but after a moment you decided that the monkey was onto something.

Your hands pressed against your face to hold back tears, crying would lead to an unhappy year. A shuddering breath came out as an attempt to ease your nerves but nothing was helping.

Soon a monkey began to pick at your head, searching for any bugs, and giving a soft touch that strangely calmed you just a bit. Another sat on your lap, patting your hand so you’d do the same for them.

Hours passed both too fast and too slow, you wanted to know what was happening, why the city was still suffering, and where Wukong was in all this.

A bang, miles away, grabbed your attention. It made you exit the blank state you were in to avoid losing your mind and having a panic attack.

You looked out the window, the once sickly green glow that emitted from the city and tainted the sky was closer to a soft morning yellow. It made you rush out the temple, even though you’d never be able to see what was happening, something was happening and you could only hope it was something good.

The world trembled, the sky screamed in bursts.

Heavenly gold streaks of light enveloped everything, quickly thinning into strips that in turn dissipated in what could only remind you of the remnants of fireworks. The remains of the night sky reaching its end to become early morning, clouds as colorful and bright as the aurora borealis. It was breathtaking, incredible, otherworldly.

But none that mattered, all you wanted was one person to be with you here and now, safe and sound.

Who knew how much time had passed as you stared at the sky and continued to wait for the Monkey King, your fingers tapped the back of your phone in a nervous rhythm, strained breaths through bared teeth before falling back and laying on the stone steps.

He had to be alive, there was no other way. The golden light that ran across the sky could only be his, or at least his power. Either him or MK had done something to stop the Spider Queen from spreading her reign to the rest of the world.

But was he hurt, trapped? Was there even a way of knowing that he was okay?

The sunlight flickered, only a moment, enough to get you to sit up and see a falcon with brown and green feathers make its way to the center of the temple garden. The sight of a bright red monkey tail caused you to shoot up to stand.

You ran, not waiting for him to change back, no thoughts about the world around you.

It was a miracle that he transformed back as your arms wrapped around him. But for a second, it felt like he flinched under your touch.

A moment after he pressed his forehead against the crook of your neck and had his arms hug you back then relax with a huge breath. A huge weight left your shoulders, your own breath of relief almost sounding like a laugh.

He was okay, he was here.

“Sorry I’m late,” Wukong mumbled, his voice with practically none of the vigor you had known him for. “I got caught up in something.”

“I don’t care. It doesn’t matter,” you told him, your arms going up to his shoulders then cradling his head. “None of it does. You’re okay.”

Here. Safe. Alive.

All that you’d want with him for the new year.

The next breath you gave almost came out as a sob.

“I was so worried,” you choked, but that was only a layer of the fear you felt over the idea that not only he lost, but that you lost him.

“It’s okay,” he answered, slowly sounding like he was ready to fall asleep. It didn’t go unnoticed.

“I just,” you started as you pulled away to look at him. “I just want to be with you. We can do whatever we had planned later but I want you to relax after all that.”

Even if you had no clue on the specifics, the only word that you could describe him was drained.

The Monkey King smiled at the idea and gave a slight nod. “I can’t think of anything better.”

Both of you were crashed on the couch, the Monkey King resting his head against your chest while you brushed your fingers through his hair. Grooming his fur like the monkeys at the temple did when you waited for him to return. On occasion he would flinch, his hand curling into your shirt, a grimace that he would try to hide then bury into you.

“I’m here if you want to talk about it,” you assured in a soft voice. “Even if you don't, I’m still here.”

A low groan came from Wukong.

“It’s nothing,” he answered. “Just saw some stuff that got to me.”

“Can I ask what?”

“Visions,” he muttered. “But those are just demon mind games, they hardly have any truth to them.”

You hummed, taking his words with no further questions. He can tell you more when he wants or is ready to, all that mattered was that you made him feel safe despite being a fragile human.

You cradled the celestial being, an immortal who single handedly wrecked Heaven, and he hugged you back to provide your own protection.

Warmth was taking over and clouding everything, slumber ready to capture both of you in mere moments. But it was different, different from all the prior touches you exchanged.

You brushed his hair one more time, pressing a kiss at the top of his head, then murmured. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Sun Wukong whispered back.

Sleep overtook everything, the memory fading away before it could even form.


End file.
